Re: Longisquama

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 8/13/99 3:59:57 AM EST, rayancog@pacific.net.ph writes:

<< That's just it, they look like feathers, superficially. Are they well
 preserved enough to represent an ideal pre-feather stage, ala
 Sinosauropteryx? Same argument for the "furcula." >>

How do you >know< that the integumentary structures on Sinosauropteryx and 
the other Chinese finds are "an ideal pre-feather stage"? How would you 
recognize such a stage in the fossil record? How do you know that what you 
see in Sinosauropteryx are "pre-feathers" and aren't, e.g., modified "true" 
feathers? Why would you think that the resemblance between Longisquama dermal 
structures and feathers is "superficial," but the resemblance between 
Sinosauropteryx dermal structures and feathers is not?

Ditto furcula.