Dr. Benton’s YouTube book promotion

Dr. Michael Benton previews his new book,
Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World in this YouTube video:

My comments follow:
“A great backstory well told. Many, many great insights here! Also a few mistakes:

1) Yi qi did not have bat wings. That extra bone is one of the forearm bones (radius or ulna) broken and/or displaced. Details and links here: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2021/07/04/when-a-simple-torsion-fracture-turned-an-early-cretaceous-bird-into-bizarre-bat-wing-dinosaur/

2) History demonstrates one should never determine whether a specimen is this or that based on a few to a dozen traits. Rather determine all clades in phylogenetic analysis using the widest possible gamut of taxa in order to minimize taxon exclusion. Every taxon derived from a last common ancestor is a clade member, whether they could fly or not. Unrelated taxa with similar traits are convergent.

3) Feathers not only appear, but also disappear in evolution. Feathers greatly precede Sinosauropteryx, going back to Sinocalliopteryx, which had longer feathers than Sinosauropteryx.

4) The headline for the book is “Dinosaurs”. So why is a pterosaur shown? If this book is for the public, why add to this long-standing confusion?

5) The anurognathid pterosaur shown at 28:45 is poorly reconstructed. No pterosaurs have such large eyes in the front half of the skull. That was due to a 2007 error that mistook a curved maxilla (with teeth) for a sclerotic ring. The skull should be flat and disc-shaped, not narrow. Here is a link to a more accurate tracing and reconstruction: http://reptileevolution.com/anurognathus-SMNS.htm

6) Pterosaur pycnofibers are convergent with feathers. We’ve known for 15 years that pterosaurs are lepidosaurs, derived from ancestors to Huehuecuetzpalli, Cosesaurus and kin, not close to dinosaurs (a traditional myth). Michael Benton was instrumental in keeping that myth alive. That backstory is chronicled here: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/a-supertree-of-pterosaur-origins-hone-and-benton-2007-2009/

7) Omitted from the “Pterosaur integumentary structures” paper shown in the video at 30:34 are the flapping, but non-flying pterosaur relatives, Longsiquama, Sharovipteryx and Cosesaurus, all of which have similar integumentary structures AND uropatagia, pteroids, prepubes, attenuated tails, an antorbital fenestra, multi-cusped posterior teeth, elongate anterior ilia, more than four sacrals, a sternal complex, a long manual digit 4, a metapodial pedal digit 5, and a long list of other traits typically restricted to basal pterosaurs. Details and links here: http://reptileevolution.com/cosesaurus.htm

8) Why would Dr. Benton omit these taxa? In 1999 he wrote a paper hopefully, but mistakenly linking the tiny bipedal crocodylomorph with vestigial fingers and no pedal digit 5, Scleromochlus, with pterosaurs. In 2000 a paper came out documenting the competing candidates (listed in #7 above). See link in #6 above for more of that backstory.

9) The crested pterosaur at 31:45, Tupandactylus, needs a more upright, elegant pose, using its wings as mere ski poles, placing its feet, taking all the weight, below the center of gravity, under the shoulders, ready to lift its wings prior to take-off without shifting its weight… like a bird, not a bat. Details here:  http://reptileevolution.com/tapejaridae.htm 

10) Distinct from the artwork at 34:10, we have many specimens that show pterosaur wings were stretched only between the elbow and wing tip, with a fuselage fillet extending to mid thigh. This design enables the wing to fold away completely. The hind limbs should be sprawling, like those of lizards, extended laterally in flight, creating horizontal stabilizers like those on typical airplanes. No specimens show the wing extending deep to the thighs or toes. Details here: http://reptileevolution.com/pterosaur-wings.htm

11) At 48:00 Dr. Benton expresses the hope that someday the feathered last common ancestor of dinosaurs and pterosaurs will be found in the Triassic. It will never be found because pterosaurs are not related to dinosaurs. We’ve known this for twenty years. We have pterosaur ancestors, a long list of them (see above), all swept under the rug by Dr. Benton. See #6 above.

11) At 44:55 Dr. Benton describes his book as ‘new visions of a lost world’. Ironically Dr. Benton has avoided the new visions that compete with his pet hypotheses, especially those that have been invalidated. Sadly, I never thought paleontology would be like this when I entered the field several decades ago with several peer-reviewed academic papers. Unfortunately, this is the reality we all must deal with.”