Re: What is a Dinosaur? and semilunate carpal

["aspidel" <aspidel@infonie.be>]

From: <Dinogeorge@aol.com>

twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com writes:
>
> << I wonder if this feature, like the increasingly inflexible wrist of
>  tetanurines, was designed to prevent the forelimb and hand from
"wobbling"
>  while gripping prey - in other words, providing a more stable and secure
>  grip while engaging struggling prey. >>
>
> No, it was "designed" to prevent wobbling while the animal was winging its
> way through the air. Wobbling wings don't work very well, and any
> anti-wobbling adaptations would be selected for in the evolution of
flight.
> The anti-wobbling features of the forelimb were later inherited by the
> flightless descendants of the winged ancestral tetanurans and exapted for
> other purposes.

Or could we say that more stable hands were more efficient for a predator,
and that this feature was selected in the evolution of flight?

In other words, what came first: evolution of flight, or selection for
predation?

Friendly - LJB.