Re: Screaming dromaeosaur biplane killers of the air

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

Mickey Mortimer (Mickey_Mortimer111@msn.com) wrote:

<Sinornis is the same as Cathayornis yandica (Sereno et al., 2002), and
shows and extensive flange on this phalanx.  There is even a smaller
flange on phalanx II-2.  Refer to figure 8.3 in Sereno et al..>

  Sereno considers the two synonymous, and though Mickey has adopted this
data, until I see evidence that indicates neither lacks autapomorphies
apart from the other, I will refer to the original labels for both types.
Anyways, a recheck (which is what I get when I use substandard photos,
grumble) affirms that the finger morphology is different than restated,
and that it is similar in both taxa to *Confuciusornis*, if less broad.
Peculiarly, these forms also show different depositional postures:
*Sinornis* on its side, *Cathayornis* on its back.

<Early Cretaceous (Barremian), not Late Jurassic.  Eoenantiornis is also
Barremian, and preserves an alula.>

  Drat, I confused it with Guiamarota ... as for the second, this is onbe
bird I've never looked out ... mind providing a scan of the specimen?
(photo prefered).

  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.

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)

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