Re: Geographic Distribution of Maniraptora

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

> Now whether this is important, or just because of the remarkable site from 
> which they came, I do not know.

It is fairly obviously due to the fact that the most productive sites are 
exposures of either the Baruungoyot, Djadokhta or Nemegt Formations in 
Mongolia or the Yixian or Jiufotang Formations in China, all of which are 
unusually fossil-rich.

> If im not wrong, _Pedopenna*_ *is also from the Jurassic...

*Pedopenna*, *Epidendrosaurus* and apparently *Scansoriopteryx*, as well as 
the mammal-or-near-mammal-depending-on-the-definition *Castorocauda* and the 
mammal *Volaticotherium*, are from the Daohugou Beds, which are not Middle 
Jurassic (as stated in most of the literature), but Late Jurassic or (more 
probably) Early Cretaceous in age. They could be almost as young as the 
Yixian Formation (which contains the very end of the Barremian and a small 
part of the Aptian).

This subject has been treated on this list several times; just search the 
archives.