Re: Rapator,the giant alvarezsaur

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

Eric Martichuski wrote:

> It's not a lack of muscles, it's the need to restructure them to fit a new 
> anatomy.

Again, to play Devil's advocate, I'm not at all sure this 'restructuring' 
was required for alvarezsaurids.  Sure, there was a highly derived 
transformation of the forelimb skeleton: truncation of the humerus and 
antebrachium; carpometacarpal fusion; and enlargement of the first finger 
and its ungual.  But overall, the modified forelimb skeleton of 
alvarezsaurids is not too different from that of compsognathids - although 
it is not as similar as some claim (e.g., Larry Martin).    (Incidentally, I 
wouldn't be too surprised if a Compsognathidae-Alvarezsauridae clade comes 
up in future phylogenies.)



Tim

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