Re: Longisquama OFFLIST

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

So, I guess this was "For Paula's Eyes Only", but by the grace of God it 
arrived on this list...

David Peters wrote:

> Longisquama is most closely related to pterosaurs as I showed in a 2000
> paper in Revista Italiana and in later analyses that were much more
> comprehensive. Senter's analysis used too few taxa and too few
> characters to nest anything with confidence, but instead relied on
> default.

Neither Peters's or Senter's analysis should be regarded as the Final Word 
on _Longisquama_'s affinities.  However, most professional researchers put 
more faith in Senter's phylogenetic analysis due to certain methodological 
problems with Peters's study.  As an example of the reasons why, refer to 
http://dml.cmnh.org/2007Jun/msg00140.html

Nothing personal.  It's just that Senter's study set the bar higher than 
Peters's.

> Longisquama has a single line of dorsal plumes, analagous and perhaps
> homologous to the frill on a Tuatara, Iguana and Basilisk.

For the "single line of dorsal plumes" - this is probably the case; not 
definitely.  The suggestion that the plumes are "homologous to the frill on 
a Tuatara, Iguana and Basilisk" is much more speculative.

Cheers

Tim

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