Re: Juravenator; or How not to perform a phylogenetic analysis

[Denver Fowler <df9465@yahoo.co.uk>]

Tim Williams wrote:

--
>Rather than re-writing the evolution of feathers in theropods, I think the 
simpler explanation might be just to blame those bloody microbes.  
Decomposition is a very complicated business, involving an interplay of 
biological, chemical and physical factors.  Minor changes in the chemistry 
of an environment can have profound effects on the microbial populations 
lurking inside.  Sometimes the inside of the body decays faster than the 
outside, other times the opposite is true; and when the outside of the body 
survives long enough to be preserved, different types of integument show 
differential preservation.
--

... and here he hits the nail squarely on the head. If a full and proper 
cladistic analysis is appropriate for this publication, then surely a full and 
proper taphonomic analysis is required too. Absence of evidence is not evidence 
of absence. Again. 

Denver.