Re: 2 new books on the Jehol Biota

["Mickey Mortimer" <Mickey_Mortimer111@msn.com>]

Dino Guy Ralph wrote-

> See
also:http://www-hsc.usc.edu/~cmchuong/fossil_birds_of_china.htm#Sample%20Pag
es, where you can > see sample pages from the more reasonably priced _Fossil
Birds of China_.  The cheapskates among us will > appreciate that the web
page includes a table of contents and a number of restorations from the
book,
> including _Confuciusornis_, _Yandangornis_, and the mud probing
_Longirostravis_.

Seems like the same artwork as in Hou's (2000) Picture Book of Chinese
Fossil Birds (see http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2002Jan/msg00788.html ), with
some taxa added of course.  Note the _horrible_ taxonomy, with
confuciusornithids sister to Archaeopteryx and Yandangornis in an
Archaeornithes.  A few indeterminate or synonymous confuciusornithids are
still included (see http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2002Oct/msg00369.html ).
Jibeinia's in Enantiornithes instead of more basal.  Sinornithiformes and
Cathayornithiformes are listed as two separate orders, despite their
eponymous genera being synonymous.  Don't even ask me about what horrible
symplesiomorphies and errors are undoubtedly behind their enantiornithine
phylogeny.  Chaoyangia's still an ornithurine (it has uncinates after all)
and sister to Songlingornis, which is virtually incomparable.  Sigh.
Progress is so slow.
As for the art.... besides the copying.. *cough* er... inspired tributes,
there are other issues.  The artist seemingly doesn't know how hands should
project from wings, the retrices and remiges of Caudipteryx are all wrong,
Beipiaosaurus has a sorry set of teeth, and I feel bad for the
Sinornithosaurus with his dislocated toes.  And Liaoxiornis is a juvenile,
damnit.  A juvenile!  Take a moment to laugh at the skeletal reconstruction
of Confuciusornis.  Note the tiny emf, the two missing sacrals, the horribly
narrow pygostyle, the lack of uncinates, the blob of a sternum, the utterly
incorrect ratio of manual phalanx II-2 to II-1, the second manual ungual
being larger than the third, the pelvis... oh the pelvis.  Amusingly, two of
these inaccuracies actually contradict confuciusornithid synapomorphies.
Marvel at the restoration of Yandangornis that wouldn't fit into its
skeleton ( http://dino.lm.com/images/display.php?id=1144 ).  The
"mud-probing" taxon is labeled Longirostriornis hani, and amusing mix of
Longirostravis and Largirostrornis, with a hint of Cuspirostrisornis.  Nice
pic in that case though.
And so ends my useless rant.

Mickey Mortimer