29.03.2013 Views

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Eric Snively A ... - Ohio University

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Eric Snively A ... - Ohio University

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Eric Snively A ... - Ohio University

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

Arnong dromaeosaurids and birds, the arctometatarsus could have been<br />

present in their common ancestor, retained in knonychus, and lost in both<br />

Dromaeosauridae and Aves. Alternately it may have been lost in the common<br />

ancestor of the dromaeosaur-bird clade, and regained either as the primitive<br />

condition for al1 birds (and subsequently lost in Aves), or acquired exclusively in<br />

Mononychus.<br />

Which of these scenarios constitutes the simplest explanation for the<br />

available evidenœ? Mononychus is the known only member of the<br />

dromaeosaurid-avian clade, induding Mesozoic birds, known to have an<br />

arctometatarsus. A full arctometatarsus as defined by Holtz (1 994a) is not<br />

expressed embryologically in extant birds (Heilmann 1926, Chiappe: pers. comm.<br />

1994). Rheas display a distal wedge Iike morphology of MT III in early<br />

development. However, the proximal part of the element is robust, circular in<br />

cross section, and lies posterior to and ftee of MT II and MT IV. This morphology<br />

wntrasts with the gracile proximal splint of MT III in Mesozoic arctometatarsalian<br />

foms, which is medially and laterally constrained by MT 11 and MT III. (The<br />

proximal robustness of the embryonic rhea MT III superficially recalls that of<br />

Elmisaurus, although Elmisaurus MT III is not circular in proximal cross sedion,<br />

and is flanked by MT II and MT IV). It is more parsimonious to conclude that an<br />

arctometatarsus was not present in the common ancestor of dromaeosaurids and<br />

birds.<br />

In Sereno's phylogeny (Figure 5.4; Sereno 1999), the arctometatarsus<br />

emerges four times: in tyrannosaurids, Uinisaurus, troodontids (aligned with

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!