Re: Pterosaur feathers?

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

George Olshevsky (Dinogeorge@aol.com) wrote:

<Not scales. Nobody's found >scales< on dinosaurs yet. Scales are only on
lepidosaurs.>

  Oh, please. Scales are well-described, for they weren't naked skinned.
As in crocodilians and some lacertilians (e.g., helodermatids, including
fossils ones), non-overlapping, tubercular scales are known from
impressions and partial carbonized remains in various taxa. "Dave", NGMC
91 has a scalation pattern on the pes that matches birds, and distinct
gene work shows that bird-foot scales turn to feathers without much
manipulation, and there are breeds with feathers here instead (ptarmigan,
various gallinaceous fowl). Just a matter of playing with the
developments.

  The keratins are essentially the same and produce only distinct internal
proteins. But you would be vary, very hard-pressed to identify an
impression genetically and at this point, the above statement from George
is simply unfounded, and essentially wrong in that crocodilians have
scales.

  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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