Re: Archaeopteryx flight

["Zoe Heraklides" <z_heraklides@hotmail.com>]

George Olshevsky (dinogeorge@aol.com) writes:

> Which, naturally, is why Dilophosaurus-grade theropods retained an 
> opposable
> pollex while in the process of acquiring the opposable hallux. In
> ceratosaurs, the hallux is not as distal and not as retroverted as in the
> more derived tetanuran theropods--in which the pollex is no longer 
> opposable
> and the hand had completely lost its fourth digit (metacarpal included). As
> the forelimb became more winglike, the feet took over more of the climbing
> functions that originally were shared by both sets of limbs.

In my studies of the manus (pl.) of theropods I don't see anything that 
renders the hand of tetanurines/maniraptorans any less opposible than  that 
of ceratosaurs. Care to educate me?

Regards

Zoe


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