Fwd: Re: Falcarius utahensis (was RE: Newfound Dinosaur a Transitional Creature)

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

I got an error message sending this, but it registers as sent in my mailbox, so
I will send again just in case, and appologies for the repeat to anyone that
gets TWO annoying messages from me.

> Tim Williams (twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com) wrote:
> 
> <The anatomy of _Falcarius_ indicates that the teeth (small, leaf-like) and 
> pelvis were among the first things to change in the transition from carnivory
> to herbivory in therizinosauroid evolution.  Nevertheless, "similarities
> between the dentition of the basal therizinosaur _Falcarius_ and the basal
> oviraptorosaur _Incisivosaurus_, ... raises the possibility that the common
> ancestor of these clades [Oviraptorosauria, Therizinosauroidea] had already
> undertaken the initial steps in this transition."  But I wonder if this
> transition might have begun even earlier, based on the dentition of
> troodontids
> and the posterior shift of the pubic shaft that appears to be primitive for
> the
> Maniraptora.>
> 
>   This is a very beautiful animal, and I was so happy to finally see it
> presented in Denver last year for SVP. Kudos on a great and imaginitive name!
> To note, though, it is my observation that "rootward" segnosaurs like
> *Falcarius* and *Beipiaosaurus* possessed relatively mesopubic pelves, while
> reversion was occuring in *Nothronychus* and *Alxasaurus*. Similar vertical
> pubes occur in *Nomingia*, *Caudipteryx*, and apparently also in _some_ of
> the
> oldest troodontids, such as *Sinornithoides* (whereas *Sinovenator* appears
> to
> have a somewhat opisthopubic pelvis). It would be likely, therefore, that a
> vertical pubis was the primitive condition for segnosaurs.
> 
>   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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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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