tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248412803814730250.post3186791923937871949..comments2024-03-17T01:48:59.504-07:00Comments on The Theropod Database Blog: Longisquama in Nesbitt's matrixMickey Mortimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08831823442911513851noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248412803814730250.post-22792195932199224532011-09-01T18:34:47.759-07:002011-09-01T18:34:47.759-07:00Mickey,
Those wisps of bone that defy interpretat...Mickey,<br /><br />Those wisps of bone that defy interpretation (Senter 2003) are, among other bones, the pteroid flipped into a parasagittal plane during crushing. You can see the details of the skull and the post-crania here:<br /><br />www.reptileevolution.com/longisquama.htm<br /><br />The trouble with Senter's work, is it only went so far before he threw up his hands in frustration and declared the observations "beyond interpretation." A little more persistence solves the problem. <br /><br />But getting back to the main problem: pterosaurs and archosaurs. Pterosaurs need lizards (and their kin, including fenestrasaurs) to nest with in order to get a gradually growing number of pterosaurian characters in outgroup taxa. Lacertulus > Huehuecuetzpalli > Cosesaurus > Sharovipteryx > basal pterosaurs. <br /><br />If you simply place pterosaurs with dinosaurs, you might as well place turtles with dinosaurs. They were both as distantly related. <br /><br />For that matter, if you take the large study (which recovered an essentially diphyletic Reptilia after Cephalerpeton and Gephyrostegus) and keep all the taxa on the archosauromorph side and delete all the taxa except the turtles and pterosaurs from the lepidosauromorph side, you get pterosaurs nesting more parsimoniously with turtles, than with Scleromochlus, Parsuchia, Marasuchus etc. <br /><br />See the results here:<br /><br />http://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/pterosaurs-and-turtles-say-it-aint-so/<br /><br />Here's the single tree of the large study in which you can trace the lineage of pterosaurs and dinosaurs and their last common ancestors in the Carboniferous:<br /><br />http://www.reptileevolution.com/reptile-tree.htm<br /><br />I've posted all the pertinent data. So you need not take my word for anything. Also, please see the fossils for yourself, as I have. <br /><br />Best regards,<br /><br />David PetersD.P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13009843520057633239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248412803814730250.post-90705461720942968222011-05-07T13:01:17.441-07:002011-05-07T13:01:17.441-07:00Well, Nesbitt has a series of papers adding Erpeto...Well, Nesbitt has a series of papers adding Erpetosuchus and many 'rauisuchians', so I'll let him handle those and not steal his thunder. The paper says "Ctenosauriscus, Bromsgroveia, and Hypselorhachis were not treated as separate terminal taxa and added into the phylogeny because the only characters that could be scored for each were completely redundant with the scorings of both Arizonasaurus and Lotosaurus." But I plan to add quite a few other taxa, so keep watching this space.Mickey Mortimerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08831823442911513851noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248412803814730250.post-41882182658648296722011-05-07T11:21:41.844-07:002011-05-07T11:21:41.844-07:00Very interesting! I'm intrigued to see the inc...Very interesting! I'm intrigued to see the inclusion of some recently described taxa (e.g. Yarasuchus, Hypselorhachis, Sarmatosuchus, Osmolskina, Koilamasuchus, Archeopelta, Yonghesuchus, Sikannisuchus, Arganasuchus and Decuriasuchus.) in this matrix as well as some recently restudied taxa (Batrachotomus - Gower & Schoch 2009, Prestosuchus - 2009 SVP abstract, Postosuchus - Weinbaum 2011, Luperosuchus - Desojo & Arcucci 2009, Ticinosuchus & Stagonosuchus - Lautenschlager & Desojo 2011 and Saurosuchus - Trotteyn, Desojo & Alcober 2011.) – including the new data.<br /><br />It will be nice to see Fugusuchus, Tarjadia, Doswellia (and Doswelliidae) and Tikisuchus in this mega-matrix too.<br /><br />Is there someone who can do at least part of this?<br /><br />Thanks a lot, R.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com