RE: aviformes

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> ville sinkkonen
>
> hi
>
> What are aviforms.
>
We need the context for this.  "Aviform" means "bird shape".  Might you be
referring to Alan Feduccia's "avimorph thecodonts": his para-/polyphyletic
assemblage of diapsids including drepanosaurids like Megalancosaurus and
other taxa like Longisquama which he postulates were the arboreal ancestors
of birds?

(Incidentally, it is a bit ironic to call these taxa "thecodonts", as none
are known to have thecodont tooth implantation: drepanosaurids are
pleurodont or possibly subthecodont, and Longisquama seems to be acrodont
(somewhat difficult to tell for certain).

I've also seen the term "aviformes" used for "bird-like" in Spanish, where
the term doesn't seem to refer to a taxonomic category per se.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796