The hands of Titanis

["Henri Rönkkö" <overmind@iobox.fi>]

 Dear all

Some time ago, there was an interesting re-evaluation of the fitness of the 
extinct predatory ground birds of North America in the Discovery magazine. It 
was claimed that Titanis, and probably some other Phorusrhacids too, had their 
wings modified into arms bearing flexible fingers ending in mighty claws. The 
evidence on which this was based, was that the structure of the wrist joint 
didn't permit folding the arm, the humerus was solid bone, and thumb attached 
to the carpometacarpus via a mobile ball and socket joint. No ulna, radius, nor 
any fingers or claws had actually been found.

As I recently browsed the archives of the Dinosaur Mailing List, I came across 
with messages postulating that the hands of Titanis were monodactyl, like 
Mononykus, and that evidence for the presence of claws had been found. Have 
some new bones emerged frome the ground? I have completely missed the evidence 
for monodactylu in Titanis. Could somebody tell me from what these new 
hypotheses have been derived?

Best,

Henri Rönkkö
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Soittoäänet ja ikonit matkapuhelimeen!  http://www.iobox.fi/