Re: Archaeopteryx

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/15/03 8:33:20 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
mightyodinn@yahoo.com writes:

<< Finally, the frame shift hypothesis (that digits shifted identity at some 
point
 in tetanuran, or possibly avepodan, history) easily explains this apparent 
discrepancy. >>

Has a frame-shift been documented in other groups of vertebrates (or 
organisms), or is this idea something that cladists have cooked up to hide a 
major 
problem with their avian phylogeny, hmm? We don't need a frame shift if we 
consider the notion that there was more than one pattern of digits in the 
theropod-avian manus.

I can't tell you how dissatisfied I am with the current crop of 
theropod-avian cladograms. Everything's circular or tautological, nothing can 
be or has 
been checked in independent ways. No wonder the ornithologists are screaming.