Re: Mesozoic Neornitheans

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

Mike Keesey wrote:

<Psittaciformes:
  unnamed form (the beak -- did this one ever get
resolved?)>

  One thing is, is that once I read Stidham's paper, I
do not think this is an oviraptorosaur or even a
"standard" dinosaur of any type. It looks like a
bird's beak, and especially given the sculpturing and
"canals" on the surface of the beak, and the lack of
distinctive internal and ventral ridges or grooves as
are be present in all oviraptorosaur jaws, from
*Microvenator* (this is a possible maybe, given
[first] Makovicky and Sues (1997) and Sereno (pers.
comm., 1999) to *Oviraptor* (see Barsbold, 1981,
1983). Holtz pretty much made all of this apparent
when the paper in _Nature_ was first released, as did
Tom in reply on the list to queries on the jaw. It
looks like a neornithean, and given the prescence of a
distinctive loriid psittaciform morphology, it appears
to be such. More material should tell us more.

  That's my opinion, anyway.


=====
Jaime "James" A. Headden

"Come the path that leads us to our fortune."

Qilong---is temporarily out of service.
Check back soon.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com