Re: Youngest dino remains

[Pharris Nicholas J <pharrinj@plu.edu>]

On Fri, 19 Mar 1999 Dinogeorge@aol.com wrote:

> Ah, but I think they [birds] >are< a subset of birds, because all the
evidence I've
> gathered indicates that the common ancestors of dinosaurs and extant birds
> were small, feathered, tree-dwelling reptiles capable of some kind of flight.

And the ancestors of living mammals were likely small, furry,
tree-dwelling synapsids, much like the immediate ancestors of bats.  So?

Actually, this is all moot.  Aves and Dinosauria already have their own
phylogenetic definitions, and under those definitions, Aves is a subset of
Dinosauria.  It doesn't really matter what group one applies the
vernacular term "bird" to.  For all it matters, one could include bats in
birds, and pterosaurs, too.

-Nick P.