Re: Sharovipteryx II

["Jerry D. Harris" <dinogami@hotmail.com>]

> We know that pterosaurs had a dermal covering something like fur 
> (right?)...I
> know there is no way to tell unless we find some sort of pterosaur Liaoning

  I'm a bit confused by these statements.  Yes, we know that _some_ 
pterosaurs had some sort of fur-like integumentary structure; this is 
evidenced by some specimens from both the Solnhofen Limestone of Germany and 
the Karabastau Formation of Kazakhstan.  Thus, we don't _need_ Liaoning 
pterosaur fossils to tell us this (although additional evidence is always 
nice...)  But we already _do_ have Liaoning pterosaurs: at least 2 
pterodactyloid specimens.  One is _Eosipterus_; the other hasn't been 
formally described except as part of the amalgamated "Dendrorhynchoides," 
the supposed rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur that had a dromaeosaurid tail 
grafted on to it to make it appear "rhamphorhynchoid."  Whether the 
pterodactyloid body on this specimen is identical to or different than 
_Eosipterus_ remains to be seen.  I don't recall either specimen being 
reported as having integument preserved, however....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AS OF JULY 1, 2000:

Jerry D. Harris
Dept of Earth & Environmental Science
University of Pennsylvania
240 S 33rd St
Philadelphia PA  19104-6316
(215) 898-5630
Fax: (215) 898-0964
dinogami@hotmail.com

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