Re: Benton and Kinman

[ELurio@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/30/01 1:22:23 PM, tijawi@hotmail.com writes:

<< Unfortunately, when it comes to separating birds from other theropods, I 
can't see what the Big Deal is.  If you think that birds are so different 
from reptiles that they deserve their own "Class", then just compare 
_Archaeopteryx_ to _Microraptor_.  Morphologically speaking, you couldn't 
separate the two of them with a cigarette paper. >>

Here we go again. Either do away with the term "reptile" or stop calling 
theropods reptiles. 

It is quite clear that some "theropods" are clearly not "reptiles." Sure 
there is little difference between _Archaeopteryx_ to _Microraptor_., but 
would a person seeing the latter in life think that it was a cold-blooded 
quadroped with scaly skin, or a weird looking bird?

Yeah, dromaeosaurs are extremely close to true birds, but so what? This means 
that they're definitely NOT reptiles. The cladistic use of the term reptile 
is clearly a political one. The proper term is amniotes.

eric l.