[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date
Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index] Re: 11th
specimen of Archaeopteryx Heinz Peter Bredow <email@example.com>
wrote: > It contains a report about an 11th specimen of
Archaeopteryx, > with very well preserved bones and feathers but
no skull. > This specimen will be displayed with some other
specimens of Archaeopteryx > at the end of this month at the
Münchner Mineralientage. The importance of _Archaeopteryx_ to
the evolution of flight has been receding over the past decade -
long before the phylogeny of Xu et al. (2011) relegated it to
the deinonychosaurian branch (which may change at some point in
the future). Archie may actually have little relevance to the
origin of the modern avian flight apparatus. The flight
abilities of Archie were not only exceedingly weak, but with its
long tail adorned with a "rectricial frond" it probably
represents a novel form of flight, very different to that of
modern birds. It is possible that archaeopterygids,