RE: Rahonavis (was Re: Ornithoms, Parrots, and others)

[Adam Yates <A.Yates@zoo.latrobe.edu.au>]

-----Original Message-----


I suspected that _Rahonavis_ would fall out as a deinonychosaur in my
latest
phylogeny, but in my latest runs it comes out as a basal avialian
(closer to
birds than to dromaeosaurs).  However, as it is so fragmentary, and as
the
newer specimens of dromaeosaurids from both the Cloverly and Mongolia
are
showing a wider ranger of morphologies within that taxon, I wouldn't be
terribly surprised if it didn't make the hop over to the dromaeo-side of
things.
------------------------

This suprises me, I thought that the case for the avian status of Rahonavis
was quite good, judging from the original description in Science.

Cheers
Adam Yates 

Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:tholtz@geol.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661