Comments on: Feathery Ostrich Mimics Enfluffle the Dinosaur Family Tree

By: Jason S.

Jason S. — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 02:50:23 +0000

Great article, but the ornithomimids should be called Dromiceiomimus, not Ornithomimus. The most common Horseshoe Canyon ornithomimids are far more primitive than Ornithomimus velox or Ornithomimus (formerly Struthiomimus) sedens. Thus, the genus Dromiceiomimus, originally erected by Dale Russel as “D. brevitertius” in 1972, should be resurrected. (The species name “edmontonicus”, though, remains under ICZN conventions, as “Ornithomimus edmontonicus” was coined first.)

By: alanborky

alanborky — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 01:42:13 +0000

Brian most of us at one time or another’ve noticed birds grooming themselves for the likes of ticks and mites in their feathers.

Might not a contributing factor to the emergence of feathers and ultimately wings therefore’ve been precisely they effectively provided traps for such fresh food leading not only to the social bonding mechanism of reciprocal grooming but also perhaps the use of the proto structures which’d eventually become wings to advertise “Look at the larders on me!” ultimately evolving into courtship displays.

By: BJ Nicholls

BJ Nicholls — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 20:47:27 +0000

I’ve been working for a couple of years on Utah ornithomimid prep. I’d guess that the best bet for seeing fluff would be on fairly well articulated fossils. The bones I’ve been working on are only partially articulated and are mostly associated, so I’d think that the animal was falling apart and feather fossilization would be less likely. The matrix is very hard sandy cement and has few of the cleavage planes that are where I think you’d be more likely to see feather traces.

I’ll see if I can get museum access to this paywalled paper and see if there are images that could help me look for similar traces during future prep work.

By: Henrique Niza

Henrique Niza — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 20:21:16 +0000

This was one discovery just waiting to happen, really, but still an awesome surprise. It will definitely open new doors to more not-so-much-unexpected feathery discoveries.

By: Zach Miller

Zach Miller — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 19:46:56 +0000

Brian, I’m disappointed; no “they’re flocking this way” joke?