Possible new Longisquama specimen found

The material is reportedly the integumentary structures from Longisquama. It was found by a researcher in Kirgizistan.

A new find in a remote part of southwestern Asia — bankrolled by Kansas dinosaur hunters — is adding fuel to a controversy sparked by a Kansas University paleontologist.[...]“This rains on a lot of people’s parades,” Martin said with a chuckle recently, as he reread the e-mail on his office computer in the museum’s basement.

Oddly tho, they describe it as such:

The recently found fossil appears to be feathers from a bird reptile called longisquama and similar to a fossil of longisquama feathers studied by Martin, Kurochkin and others a few years ago

These structures are not feathers, in any sense of the word, and Longisquama is not a bird-reptile by any means.

Larry Martin is one of the BAND people, ([size=-3]Birds Are Not Dinosaurs), though I had thought that he wasn't pushing it these days.

Here is a detail on the appendages:


However, they've been found to actually be 3d strucutres, more like 'extended appendages' than thin 'planar' feathers.

Longisquama with and without the appendages:
external image

Related Articles and Pages:
Feduccia, Ruben, et al. claim Longisquama squashes the dinosaur bird link, while others shoot back
Act Pal Pol Article
the structures of Longisquama are not feathers.

Fossil Discovery Threatens Theory of Birds' Evolution

I thought that this argument had been put to bed.
Question Nygdan, are there any more recent links? A quick pursal of the one's you supplied seemed to be about 5 years old.
For those who maybe interested, here is an artist's conception of what
Longisquama looked like

Interesting, I never heard of this animal before.

I used to think birds directly evolved from dinosaurs, but now I'm not so sure. From what I've seen, it seems the bird-like dinosaurs are all younger than the earliest birds, which creates a huge problem.

Feathers on dinosaurs could have been a case of convergent evolution, not an indicator of close relationship with the birds.

[edit on 11/17/2005 by djohnsto77]