Rhamphorhynchus Tail Dingus (Was Re; Who says...)

[Danvarner@aol.com]

David Marjanovic writes:
<< > Since when is _Rhamphorhynchus_' tail "diamond" vertically oriented? Did 
I
miss
> something? All the illustrations I've seen show it flatted dorsoventrally,
the
> "wings" projecting laterally.

Since the '70s or so. :-) Wellnhofer's encyclopedia anyway expresses no
doubt that it's vertical; it's preserved that way, they say. What, if
anything, the aerodynamic function was, however, is unclear, small as the
"diamond" is (and considering the even narrower thing *Sordes* had). >>

       Manfred Reichel was drawing fuzzy Rhamphorhychus with vertical tail 
dinguses in 1935. I believe Knight's earlier Field Museum mural shows them 
that way also, but don't take that as gospel since I've been hallucinating 
lately, apparently. DV