MORE PTEROSAURS/BAT BOOK

["Matthew Troutman" <m_troutman@hotmail.com>]

Another thing has to be said about the pterosaur=>bird link.  If 
pterosaurs are the closest sister-group to birds then birds may be 
outside the Archosauria despite all of the evidence osteologically, 
myologically, and from the antorbital cavity.  As I explained in my 
previous post, some people believe that pterosaurs are descended from 
prolacertiforms, which are probably far outside the Archosauria.  Most 
recently put them in the Archosauromorpha, which I agree with, but some 
think that they are lepidosauromorphs.  

Another thing that should be noted is that the humerus of pterosaurs is 
very specialized compared to bird humeri (except maybe hummingbirds).  
Bird humeri are not readily deriveable from pterosaur humeri.

_ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION AND BEHAVIOUR OF BATS_ ed. P.A. Racey and S.M. Swift

I just want to endorse this book and all the papers within.  For those 
interested in keystone species and flying foxes, this is your book!  
Lots of cool stuff on nocturnality, population ecology, and feeding 
behavior.  And John D. Pettigrew's paper on bat diphyly settles the 
issue for me.  Bats are diphyletic and megabats are derived from 
dermopterans which are basal primates.  All stuuf on bat monophyly from 
DNA is refuted because there is an AT bias stemming from the metabolic 
needs of flight.  Get this book!

Matt Troutman

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