Re: bauplan convergence

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/17/00 4:26:12 AM EST, scott_hartman@hotmail.com writes:

<< I have no problem envisioning theropods climbing trees from a functional 
standpoint (grasping hands, lots of claws and what not), but there are simply 
no theropods (or Archaeopteryx) that show scansorial adaptations.  So I doubt 
scansorial gliding was important in the evolution of avian flight. >>

It is too premature to argue on this basis that scansorial gliding was not a 
factor in the evolution of avian flight. All the known larger theropods are 
well adapted to a cursorial lifestyle that evolved separately and 
convergently in each lineage. We would not expect to find scansorial 
adaptations remaining in such dinosaurs. But as Larry Martin has pointed out, 
Archaeopteryx could well have been a scansorial animal; he has even restored 
the skeleton in a scansorial pose at the museum in Lawrence, Kansas.