Re: Carniadactylus paper and pterosaur ontogeny

[Mike Habib <habib@jhmi.edu>]

> > This is just nonsense. Isometric growth has been demonstrated for  
> > the forelimb-hindlimb ratio -- and that's it. Skulls most obviously  
> > didn't grow isometrically in pterosaurs; neither do they anywhere  
> > else.
>
> You're standing by an unproven paradigm. Show me one juvenile and  
> one associated adult to prove your statement.

None of the embryos discovered are geometrically similar to the  
adults.  Furthermore, none of the animals you are suggesting as  
juveniles are geometrically similar to the adults, either, and if  
those animals are, in fact, some kind of tiny adult, then you don't  
have a sample to demonstrate isometry in the first place.

It's also worth noting that for pterosaurs to be flighted at small  
size and retain flight ability through growth, they cannot grow  
isometrically.

Cheers,

--Mike


Michael Habib, M.S.
PhD. Candidate
Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
1830 E. Monument Street
Baltimore, MD 21205
(443) 280-0181
habib@jhmi.edu