FW: MSNBC article

[Jeffrey Martz <jeffmartz@earthlink.net>]

Larry Febo wrote...

<Just read the Tom Holtz  article concerning Bird Origins. Interesting
< summary, but I was disappointed not to see mention of  opposing views
< stating Birds as ancestors to Dinos. 

[Jeffrey Martz]  
     Sauropods and ornithischians are descended from birds?!  This is a new one 
on me...  
      Whether or not SOME Cretaceous theropods are secondarily flightless 
descendants from _Archeopteryx_ or a closely related forms, birds would STILL 
be descended from some kind of Jurassic theropod (perhaps a basal dromeosaur 
lacking some the derived features suggesting to some that suggests the some 
that Cretaceous forms are secondarily flightless); what else would they be 
descended from?  Psudosuchians?  Crocodiles?
     Even if you except Olshevsky's idea that ALL theropods are descended from 
several radiations of arboreal forms, this still only covers the theropods; and 
the "dino-birds" would still technically be dinosaurs (unless dinosaurs are 
polyphyletic).  "Birds Came First" is just a cute catch phrase for a theory 
that suggests that early theropods were arboreal, and that ground dwelling 
theropods are a polyphyletic group representing several radiations from 
arboreal forms; at least _ONE_ of which already achieved flight.  I'm sure 
Olshevsky will chime in if I've misrepresented his ideas.
       In any case, the paper is on BIRD origins, not necessarily "bird-like, 
possibly secondarily flightless theropod" origins.    
  
LN Jeff