RE: SVP 2004 (talks - Thursday and Friday)

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Jaime A. Headden wrote:

> Anyways, dinosaurs from the
> Kyzylkum at Dzhyarakuduk, mostly from the Bissekty, resemble those of the
> Iren Dabasu of northeastern China and the Baynshire of southern Mongolia,
> which were closely temporally allied.

Hmmm... I wonder if this will help sort out the relationships of _Itemirus_ 
and _Alectrosaurus_.

> Karen Sears was analyzing rapid development and evolution of chiropteran
> wing digits, thereby showing that there needn't be a very recognizable
> transition series in the fossil record, the ancestral bat may look like a
> proto-lemur or colugo.

This also appeared in New Scientist...
http://dml.cmnh.org/2004Nov/msg00186.html
I wonder if a similar thing happened in the evolution of pterosaurs 
(although in this case, it would just be one finger that was 
super-elongated).  In both proto-bats and proto-pterosaurs, the gliding 
membrane would have to be extended along with the digits.

(BTW, thanks for these SVP summaries - us stay-at-homers really appreciate 
them.  Give us a bowl of moldy strawberries, and it's almost like we were 
there.)


Tim