Re: NY times opinion

["Tim Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Howard Zimmerman (via John Hutchinson) wrote:

> Since the geographic strata in which the fossils were found are about 125 
> million years old, this animal could not have been the progenitor of the 
> avian line.

Mr Obvious says: Golly, he's right!

(However, the fact that _Microraptor_ belongs near the base of the sister 
group to birds might accord it some relevance to the origin of avian 
flight.)

> The line of thought this fossil might support is that feathers evolved at 
> least twice, once in birds and again in dinosaurs.

I'm bewildered as how _Microraptor_ and its arrangement of feathers could 
support that particular line of thought.  Then again, my head is still 
spinning after being told that dromaeosaurs aren't really theropods after 
all.  I think it's coz dromaeosaurs have feathers, and feathers (as we all 
know) should be treated differently to all other characters...




Tim

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