Friday, June 18, 2010

Fingers and Wrists

More evidence that the maniraptors such as the dromaeosaurs and the ornithomimosaurs etc. are not dinosaurs. They are on a completely separate bird-related line stemming back to the pterosaurs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theropoda
"However, in coelurosaurs [maniraptors] such as ornithomimosaurs and especially dromaeosaurs, the hand itself had lost most flexibility, with highly inflexible fingers. Dromaeosaurs and other maniraptorans also showed increased mobility at the wrist not seen in other [actual dinosaurs] theropods, thanks to the presence of a specialized half-moon shaped wrist bone (the semi-lunate carpal) that allowed the whole hand to fold backward towards the forearm in the manner of modern birds.[16]"

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