RE: Alternative origins of birds

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> David Marjanovic
>
> >  Other
> alternatives were
> > turtles (present in the Late Triassic, and thus older than birds; have
> > modified cervicals; have toothless beaks; not dinosaurs)
>
> These are the reasons why Haeckel and apparently many of his
> contemporaries
> (middle 19th century) _really_ thought that and drew their family
> trees that
> way. Boo! No prize for that plagiat! ;-)

I *WONDERED* if anyone was going to catch that! (Okay, I don't think that
the Late Triassic origin was used as evidence, since I can't recall if
_Proganochelys_ and company were known in Haeckel's time).

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796