ORNITHOLESTES, TITANIS HANDS (again)

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

Time is tight (I will have to unsubscribe soon), but some assorted musings..

-- The latest on the horn of _Ornitholestes_ from those who have examined the 
specimen is that there ain't one. No horn: instead, dorsally displaced nasal 
processes of the premax. I wish I'd known this when I wrote the stuff in the 
Walking With Dinosaurs book. Nick L has examined the specimen and Luis 
Rey informs me that Uncle Bob also says no nasal horn.

-- Phorusrhacoids: I checked the literature quickly this morning and it looks 
like Nick was right to be sceptical: NO MANUAL CLAWS AT ALL for 
_Titanis_. Nick is not the first to point this out, as I recall Ron Orenstein 
also 
expressing some scepticism in the past. Chandler's evidence for mobile clawed 
fingers is, as previously pointed out, based on the proximal part of the major 
digit (IIRC). Furthermore, so far as I can tell from other phorusrhacoids, 
other 
taxa don't sport claws. In fact, there are comments in the literature 
(Patterson & 
Kraglievich 1960) to the effect that no phorusrhacoid forelimb material is 
known (this predates both the discovery of Chandler's material of _Titanis_ and 
of _Aenigmavis_) and the complete wings you see on mounts of, e.g., 
_Paraphysornis_, are largely hypothetical (like most phorusrhacoid taxa, 
_Paraphysornis_ is actually based on tarsomets and other bits of the hindlimb 
skeleton and pelvis). Wing material may be known for psilopterids but I was 
unable to check this. _Aenigmavis_, if it is a phorusrhacoid, may or may not 
have small alular/major digit unguals (perhaps Fred Ruhe can help?). 

Chandler has also proposed that the bit of _Titanis_ wing he has shows that the 
bird could not fold its wing. In the absence of carpal knobs/spurs on the 
preserved chunk, this indicates that the distal end of the carpomet was being 
used for something (note: more speculation).

Finally, moving toward the edges of credibility, there is some fringe 
anthropological/cryptozoological data on a character from Amerindian myth 
called 'Raven'. Sorry, don't know what tribe 'Raven' is associated with 
(couldn't 
find the articles I have on it). 'Raven' was a mythical man-sized, err, raven 
with 
prominent clawed forelimbs. It has recently been proposed that this was a 
representation of a late-surviving phorusrhacoid (maybe _Titanis_). So there 
you go, definitive evidence for clawed forelimbs!! :) Of course I must point 
out 
that the logic was a bit more circular... 'Raven' was suggested to be a 
mythical 
_Titanis_ only >because< we all know that _Titanis had clawed forelimbs....

Of course, the real reason we want phorusrhacoids to have clawed hands it that 
it provides compelling evidence for a cool clade of S. American landbirds that 
includes hoatzins, seriemas, falcons etc (joke: see abundant comments in the 
DML archives).

While I'm here, please go and buy the latest ish of _Dive_ magazine (Jan 2002). 
Has a neat article called 'Diving with Prehistoric Beasts' all about fossil 
sharks. 
By me, art by Steve White.

Back to the Teilard de Chardin stuff.....

DARREN NAISH 
PALAEOBIOLOGY RESEARCH GROUP
School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH
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