Yixian Forgeries

[Josh Smith <smithjb@sas.upenn.edu>]

> Rather than being just another article about "Archaeoraptor," this one

> discusses a second, and very pertinent, newly-discovered forgery from
the
> Yixian Formation.

And the sad thing (okay, ONE sad things: there are other sad things
related
to this as well...) is that some people have used this
"rhamphorhynchoid" as
evidence for the Jurassic age of the Yixian!!

  Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
  Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology  Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland  College Park Scholars
  College Park, MD  20742

    Yeah..hey they do....the bastards!

    Hey wait a minute though...what is wrong with using a single
specimen of a poorly studied taxon that is presumed to be
phylogenetically similar to a Jurassic taxon that is also known only
from within the very unit in question as a biostratigraphic age datum
proving a Jurassic age?

I seem to remember that is what they taught in Amherst.  Isn't that what
they taught you at Hopkins?

--
Josh Smith
Department of Earth and Environmental Science
University of Pennsylvania
471 Hayden Hall
240 South 33rd Street
Philadelphia, PA  19104-6316
(215) 898-5630 (Office)
(215) 898-0964 (FAX)