Re: titanosaurs

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/4/02 1:12:56 PM EST, TiJaWi@agron.iastate.edu writes:

<< As Jaime said, can one equate each individual wing feather of
 _Archaeopteryx_ with each individual wing feather of _Confuciusornis_, or an
 emu, or a turkey buzzard?  I would say "no way".   >>

All this does is point out yet another deficiency of morphological cladistic 
analysis. Unless you think that the wing feathers of Archaeopteryx and 
Confuciusornis developed entirely independently, there must be some kind of 
homology present among them. Which feathers are new structures and which are 
inherited? Finding an answer to this question could be quite an informative 
experience.