Ostrom Reports.

[luisrey <luisrey@ndirect.co.uk>]

Thank you Holtz, Orenstein, Chapman, Hutchinson and Kirkaldy for the
reports on the Symposium. You all have given us eyes and ears. Most
appreciated.
Fascinating new discussions are emerging from it.
Caudipteryx as an Oviraptorosaur makes perfect sense to me! The
distribution of feathers in Caudipteryx is weird enough to keep it in mind
when we see Oviraptor. Caudipteryx doesn't have big claws and still those
wrist-arm (and finger?) feathers seem more a handicap than a help for a
terrestrial, clawed predatory creature. But then... weird displays are
sexy. And not only that, long feathers can be useful for protecting nests
and eggs.
In my restorations I would keep the arm feathers, but free the digits
completely. Multiple use: building the nests, manipulating the eggs and
insulating them, while keeping the display items.
I don't mind the speculation of the teeth of Caudipteryx as preening
devices, but it's too restrictive and seems to imply that those
oviraptorosaurs that don't have them couldn't be feathered. Don't see the
logic.

Luis Rey

Visit my website on http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~luisrey