Re: Pterosaur feathers?

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/3/02 5:10:58 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
qilongia@yahoo.com writes:

<< I would like to see what personally lends you (George) to saying that
 "Those aren't scales, even though they look like scales." It would help me
 in understanding where you are coming from. >>

Well, mammal hair and pterosaur hair "look alike," but most people would say 
they're not homologous. As I understand it, the big problem with deriving 
avian feathers from lepidosaur scales is that feathers and scales have 
different chemistries. Sure, dinosaurs had integumentary structures that 
resemble in a general way the scales of lepidosaurs, but that doesn't mean 
they were homologous with lepidosaur scales.