Re: Postorbital processes on jugals

["Mickey_Mortimer11" <Mickey_Mortimer11@email.msn.com>]

David Marjanovic wrote-

> Ah, that's the quadratojugal... Now I'd need something 3-dimensional to
> guess whether the process is a neomorph to prevent the quadrate from too
> much movement, sort of taking over the function of the tiny qj, or a
genuine
> postorbital process. The latter looks much less improbable to me now.

I personally think the idea of it being neomorphous is ludicrous- akin to
the claims the pubic feet and astragalar ascending processes of birds and
dinosaurs are non-homologous.  Elzanowski (2001) makes the same claim about
Archaeopteryx's ascending process, suggesting it is homologous to
Erlikosaurus' posterodorsal jugal process (that runs alongside the
quadratojugal's dorsal process).  You'll notice (besides Archaeopteryx)
Velociraptor and especially Bambiraptor also have ascending processes in
almost the same position.

> > I never
> > mentioned one being present in Longipteryx,
>
> In the Details On IIRC.

Nope, though I did mistakenly put it in the cladogram below (oops).

> Even *Sinornis*. Just checked.

Sinornis is actually pretty badly preserved besides the manus and hindlimb.
Of course, the nearly complete Cathayornis is said to be a junior synonym.

> The photo of *P.* drives me crazy...

I agree.  Whose bright idea was it not to illustrate the whole skeleton?

Mickey Mortimer