Re: semilunate carpal

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 8/9/01 11:06:22 AM EST, twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com writes:

<< Taken at "face value", yes.  But this is a pretty hefty caveat.  Isn't 
this 
 the purpose of character analysis - to see if our "face-value" 
 interpretations of the data hold up to scrutiny? >>

So if the fossil record supports the ground-up/BADD version, then it's OK to 
use it, no problem, but when it supports BCF, then we have to watch out for 
the gaps and so forth. Classic instance of hypothesis guidng the facts. Bah.

Small, isolated theropod teeth could belong to anything and don't mean 
diddly. Let's see a nice maniraptoran skeleton from the Middle Jurassic. I'll 
bet you it will be small and birdlike, like Archaeopteryx, if and when it is 
found, not big, like Velociraptor.