Re: Feathered Dragons: Studies on the Transition from Dinosaurs to Birds

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

David Marjanovic (david.marjanovic@gmx.at) wrote:

<I'd only put Scansoriopterygidae in the trees. (Their feet are pretty
unequivocal, and their hands are hard to explain differently.)>

  I beg to differ. *Epidendrosaurus* is preserved with the first toe of
one leg in the same direction as the others, and no metatarsal to show
"proper" articulation. *Scansoriopteryx* is preserved with one foot having
the metatarsal preserved, and the toe is in opposition to the others. This
is, barring theories on twisting and how a distally positioned digit MUST
be evidence of an anisodactyl arrangement (unproven), fairly equivocal.
Aside from this, absence of a reverted hallux in other theropods does not
preclude their being able to climb or be in a tree ... it only prohibits
"effective" perching and grasping on branches two-leggedly. This doesn't
mean no other bird or other maniraptoran theropod (or even any small
coelurosaur) could climb or get into a tree for at least PART of it's
habitus. If it does, I'd like to see unequivocal proof otherwise.

  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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