Re: Re., SCANSORIOPTERYX

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Steve  Brusatte (dinoland@lycos.com) wrote:

<Correct me if I'm wrong (it's been awhile since I've read the paper, so I
very well could be), but didn't Zhang et al. mention a few traces of
filament on the _Epidendrosaurus_ slab??  Or, am I thinking of something
else?  In any event, I don't think there was much preserved.>

  Aside from the bulk of the bony elements, and much of the skull is
preserved as positive impressions, the type of *Epidendrosaurus* lack any
_bona fide_ integumental structures, unlike the type of *Scansoriopteryx*,
which has large traces of short filaments about the neck, arm, leg, and a
small patch of naked, scaly skin on one side of a portion of tail. Luis
Rey's recent, very gorgeous painting of *Epidendrosaurus* uses the
integument of the latter taxon and offers the base of the tail as nakes
but otherwise bearing long dorsal and lateral filaments, which is just as
likely.

  Cheers,

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

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