U. Jurassic troodontid "dinosaur"/"bird"

[Ken Kinman]

Dear All,
      Another one of those fossil "gaps" is being filled in.  An Upper Jurassic troodontid "dinosaur"/"bird", a contemporary of Archaeopteryx, has been formally announced (but not yet named).  As you may remember, I merged Order Troodontiformes into Order Archaeopterygiformes back in October 2002.

      As you can read (by clicking the link below), they seem to think the terrestrial nature of this early Troodontid further supports the "ground up" theory of flight origins.  However, although I do support a modified "ground up" theory myself, I am not so sure this fossil is necessarily good evidence.  The reason I say this is that troodonts (like dromaeosaurs, which I also place in Archaeopterygiformes) may well be secondarily flightless.  Now we need to fill in those Middle Jurassic fossil gaps (wherein we just might find flying troodonts).  Good things come to those who wait.

http://dml.cmnh.org/2005Oct/msg00461.html

      ----- Cheers,
                  Ken Kinman