Re: I'm back...

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> > I see. So unless it comes out as an arctometatarsalian synapomorphy,
> > reversed in troodontids, in a parsimony analysis, I apparently
> > can't use it.
>
> A) That assumes that troodontids are arctometatarsalians, a position no
one
> I know of currently holds.

I do assume this, based on a) the fact that Bullatosauria has been proposed
and the namegiving feature is AFAIK very distinctive, b) the scenario
proposed for the evolution of ornithomimosaurian beaks via the condition in
*Pelicanimimus* from a troodontid-like dentition sounds quite plausible to
me, c) utter lack of knowledge of characters that indicate otherwise :-]

> B) What do you mean "apparently can't use it"?

... as a synapomorphy of Tyrannosauroidea + Troodontidae +
Ornithomimosauria. (I often interrupt sentences in the middle, and I should
have put "reversed in troodontids" in parentheses instead of between
commas.) If I wanted to do an in-depth cladistic analysis of that part of
the tree (may happen sometime), I would surely enter this character into the
matrix, but unless the smooth nasals of troodontids and apparently
*Garudimimus* (are those of more basal ornithomimosaurs known?) come out as
reversals _then_, I can't say, as I had planned, "hahaaa, here I have
evidence that Arctometatarsalia has the contents found in Holtz (1996)!!!".