Re: Caudipteryx not a bird and more from APP

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> Dyke, G.J. and Norell, M.A. 2005. Caudipteryx as a non?avialan theropod
> rather than a flightless bird. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 50 (1):
> 101-116.

"Measurement of trunk length in this specimen is impossible (but was given 
to an accuracy of 1 mm by Jones et al. 2000)."
> From the legend to fig. 1 which shows the holotype of *C. zoui*.

I just wonder why they put the Queen Victoria Museum in "Salisbury, 
Zimbabwe", when that city has been called Harare ever since Zimbabwe's 
independence.

"Third, and most problematically, we have identified a number of cases where 
Jones et al. (2000) provide measurements (to a resolution, in some cases, of 
1 mm) for bones that do not exist -- they are not preserved with the 
specimen numbers indicated."

And so on. *Archaeopteryx* is missing for no apparent reason. 
*Sinornithoides*, the only troodontid in the sample, fell on the bird line 
before it was excluded for not being adult enough. The subadult 
*Eustreptospondylus* is included. And so on. ARGH!

IGM 100/42 is called *Oviraptor*. Is it *Citipati*?

Appendix 1 discloses the full horror. Out of the 28 nonavian theropod 
specimens used by Jones et al., their measurements can only be replicated on 
TWO of those because some or all of the relevant bones are not completely 
preserved (respectively not yet described in *Eoraptor*).
       GI 100/25, a *Velociraptor*, "is a nearly complete specimen that has 
never been adequately described. All of the elements that are measured by 
Jones et al. (2000), are preserved on this specimen. However, their 
measurements do not correspond with the actual specimen. For instance they 
list the femur length as 200 mm, when in fact it is 185 mm in length. The 
tibia is listed by Jones et al. (2000) as 210 mm in length when in fact it 
is 225 mm (231 with the astragalus), metatarsal III is 108, not the 95 mm 
reported. Similarly the twisted nature of the specimen makes accurate (to 1 
mm resolution) measurement of the dorsal series impossible."

Incredible.

> Schubert, B.W. and Ungar, P.S. 2005. Wear facets and enamel spalling in
> tyrannosaurid dinosaurs. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 50 (1): 93-99.

"therapods"! AAAAH!!! ;-)