Re: Avians and their Kin

[Dino Guy and Computer Gal <gbabcock@best.com>]

David Marjanovic wrote:

> From: "Dino Guy and Computer Gal" <gbabcock@best.com>
> > The earliest known articulated maniraptoran theropods, _Microraptor_ and
> > _Sinornithosaurus_ (right?),
>
> Excluding *Archaeopteryx*, isn't *Deinonychus* earlier? (And is it
> articulated?)

No, _Deinonychus_ (Aptian-Albian, late early Cretaceous, approximately 110 mya)
does not appear earlier than the Liaoning species (estimated at about 120-125
mya).

> > are also apparently the most anatomically
> > bird-like dinosaurs (undescribed Liaoning specimens notwithstanding).
>
> IMHO they are the most *Archaeopteryx*-like ones, not the most bird-like
> ones, and even that only because of symplesiomorphies. This of course
> depends on one's phylogenetic hypotheses.

If the Liaoning "dromaeosaurs" (if such they are) are not the most bird-like
putative non-avian maniraptorans, then which non-avian maniraptorans are more
bird-like than them?

-- Ralph W. Miller III   ralph.miller@alumni.usc.edu