Re: T-Tip

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

  I hope this clarifies, and appologies for the
lateness of this reply, I'm just now getting to cut
back on my mail back up, as some others have
independantly already seen.

Anyhoo, ( :) ) I wrote:

<<Has the dromaeosaur/coelurid/oviraptorosaur
condition of a pinched mtIII, but without contact of
II and IV; therefore, not the arctometatarsalian
condition as per Holtz (1994)>>

Mickey Mortimer wrote:

<By "coelurid" do you mean Coelurus fragilis? I didn't
think metatarsal material was known. Is this
information from the new, undescribed skeleton?>

  By coelurid I mean a general grade of the type
exemplified by *Coelurus*, either the described and
the undescribed material, of which some I have heard
of as exhibiting certain characters [word of mouth
only] as well as including *Nedcolbertia*, possibly
*Ornitholestes* (though I believe someone [Holtz? --
GAIA?] suggested a successive outgrouping of (Ornitho
(Coelur (other coelurosaurs))) ), and a metatarsus
from Arkansas (Kirkland et al., 1998; the
*Nedcolbertia* paper) wherein shared morphological
characters are the pinched pes, caudal and cervical
morphology, unpaired cervical pleurocoels (?),
extensive postpubic boot, undescended obturator
process, possibly the small cranium/body ratio, long
body and tail, short legs, relatively short
tibia/femur ratio, and a few others; these features
are modified by other taxa ("arctometatarsalians,"
oviraptorosaurs + therizinosauroids, dromaeosaurs,
avialians, etc.) so they represent plesiomorphies. In
essence, "coelurid" is a term I use to describe the
basic morphology or body plan of basal coelurosaurs or
maniraptoriforms.

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