Re: DA Archaeopteryx Carpal and Manus Question

[GSP1954@aol.com]

As I stated in DA, the avian attributes that have been published in the wrist 
and hand of Archaeopteryx but not other avepectoran dinosaurs are in Zhou & 
Martin 1999. These characters are listed in Appendix 1B. As I note, all of 
these features are associated with the flight, so their absence in dinosaurs 
that may be neoflightless is not necessarily phylogenetically as relevant as 
Z&M and others believe. 

What is phylogentically as well as functionally relevant, as I explain in the 
book, is that sinornithosaur dromaeosaur hands possess an advanced flight 
feature that Archaeopteryx does not, a well developed flange on the base of 
the central finger for the support of a large array of well developed flight 
feathers. Yet sinornithosaurs lacked such a wing as shown by the preserved 
feathers. This is the common combination in flightless birds. How the 
presence of such a sophisticated flight feature can be explained without 
invoking a flight heritage more advanced than that of Archaeopteryx is by no 
means clear. 

GP