Re: Sclerotics and nose bending

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Gareth Dyke wrote:

<So, if the phylogenetic position and interpretation
of forms like Shuuvia are correct, the loss of the
fusion of these elements (characteristic of the
prokinetic avian skull) is seen within the avialae at
the level of the alvarezsauridae (and Archaeopteryx
?), but the fused condition is returned to in the
Confuciosornithidae.>

  Sereno (1999; Ostrom symp.) and Martin's (Ostrom
symp.) arguments for the exclusion of alvaresaurs from
Avialae make this a possible case of no reversion --
the separation of the upper and lower temporal arches
did not apparently occur until the enantiornithines
and later. Prokinesis can then be shown to have
occured in Dinosauria prior to the alleged avian split
off, and the adaptations involved cannot be expressed
as avian or squamate in development, and as such ... I
ramble.

===
Jaime A. Headden

"May I lure us, ere the mote ends us?"

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