Late Jurassic bird

["Jerry D. Harris" <102354.2222@compuserve.com>]

Message text written by INTERNET:TWILLIAMS@canr1.cag.uconn.edu
>Does anyone have any information on _Priscavolucris_?  This was described
by 
Gomez (1979) as a bird, based on a fossil found in Late Jurassic rocks in 
Lerida, Spain.

I know nothing about this animal.  What I'm interested in is what is known 
of this critter, and why researchers are not convinced it's a bird?
<

        As George pointed out, the specimen turned out to be, upon closer
examination (and possibly further preparation, I don't know) a badly
decayed hybodont shark.  Of the few remaining elements, some of the fins
were arrayed in an interesting way, reminiscent of the feather layout of
the London _Archaeopteryx_ specimen.  Gomez-Pallerola originally described
the thing as a bird in 1976 and recanted and noted the chondrichthyan
nature of the specimen in another paper two years later.


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                     Jerry D. Harris
                 Fossil Preparation Lab
          New Mexico Museum of Natural History
                   1801 Mountain Rd NW
               Albuquerque  NM  87104-1375
                 Phone:  (505) 841-2809
                  Fax:  (505) 841-2866
               102354.2222@compuserve.com