Fw: Feather Flap

[don ohmes <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>]

Hadn't heard of herbivory being linked to flight evolution before, so the quote 
was puzzling; I guess those seeds/gastroliths are the source... I thought maybe 
there was a link to a new (to me) theoretical scenario. Thanks. 

Don

----- Original Message ----
From: Michael Mortimer <mickey_mortimer111@msn.com>
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Sent: Monday, June 4, 2007 1:57:25 AM
Subject: Re: Feather Flap

don ohmes wrote-

>That said, can anyone tell where (and why) the "plant-eating habits" in the 
>article quote pasted >below came into the proposed selective process? In 
>either trees down' or 'ground up' I think >predatory lifestyles work a lot 
>better for evolving feathered flight...

If people like Scott are right and taxa like Archaeopteryx and Microraptor 
with unreversed halluces were still terrestrial, the most basal arboreal 
maniraptorans would be jeholornithids and omnivoropterygids.  The latter 
clades preserve seeds and gastroliths in their body cavities, indicating at 
least partially herbivorous habits.

Mickey Mortimer