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Re: [Re: Feathered/scaly theropods: trying to make the point.]


"Jura" (archosaur@usa.net) wrote:

Couldn't it have been contamination that occured at the time of fossilization
and not later (e.g. they fell on some funky plant?) and not have occured later
on.

Perhaps it was botanical (or mycological) contamination. I'm open to the idea that these little dinosaurs were infected with a noxious weed or fungus, that creeps beneath their skin and digests their bodies from the inside out. Two prominent investigators, D. Scully and F. Mulder, are with me on this one.

Amphibians and non-theropod amniotes are apparently immune.


As for non-dinosaurian finds with this integument, I agree that if this
was contamination then we should see it on other taxons, and I wouldn't be
surprised if we already have, but overlooked it. When was the last time one
heard of any non-dinosaurian/non-avian finds from that locations.

So far I've heard of a possible ornithopod and that one pteradactyl, but
that's it.

As well as Yixian ornithischians (_Psittacosaurus_, _Jeholosaurus_, _Jinzhousaurus_) and pterosaurs (_Dendrorhynchoides_, _Eosipterus_, _Haopterus_), there are frogs (_Callobatrachus_, _Liaobatrachus_), salamanders (_Liaoxitriton_), lepidosaurs (_Dalinghosaurus_, _Hyphalosaurus_ [= _Sinohydrosaurus_]), turtles (_Manchurochelys_) and mammals (_Zhangheotherium_).


I'm not sure if they were. I've been trying to find the _Confusciornis_ paper,
but have had no luck and fear it might be in a Chinese journal, in which case
I'm out of luck.

I'd recommend a paper from a journal a little closer to home:
"Anatomy and Systematics of the Confuciusornithidae (Theropoda: Aves) from the Late Mesozoic of Northeastern China." L. M. Chiappe, S. Ji, Q. Ji, and M. A. Norell. 1999. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Volume 242. 89 pp.


I don't know of any other bird finds there (excluding recent
mentions on the list).

Actually, quite a few other bird genera have been named from the various Yixian horizons: _Sinornis_, _Cathayornis_, _Changchengornis_, _Jibeinia_, _Chaoyangia_, _Liaoxiornis_, _Songlingornis_, _Eoenzntiornis_, _Boluochia_, Longchengornis, _ _Cuspirostrisornis_, _Largirostrornis_, _Liaoningornis_... just to mention a few.


The take-home message: A little bit of background reading can go a *long* way.


Tim

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