Thoughts in a Haystack

Good links. But...

"and thinks it is somehow important anyway"?

I'm no creationist, but I think a living pterosaur would be more than "somewhat important".
 

I think I have to agree with Anonymous. Switek said:

The frigatebird in the video is a living, flying dinosaur—a modified descendant of small, feathered theropod dinosaurs which lived many millions of years ago. To me, that fact is even more wonderful than the discovery of any long-lost species.

That may be, but it's not news, and it doesn't expand our knowledge potential from where it is now.

Even intact DNA from a pterosaur fossil would be a wonderful find, while a living pterosaur would rank with tuataras and coelacanths for important "living fossil" representatives of otherwise dead taxa--if an annoyance in the hands of creationists.

It's certainly a forlorn hope, however.

Glen Davidson
 

Not in the way creationists think, as Brian points out, as far as calling into question the reality of evolution. It'd be a great find full of important physiological, genetic and other data and would add to science immeasurably. But creationists don't listen to those sort of facts (or science for that matrer) anyway. It wouldn't make the slightest difference in the evidence for evolution, except to make it stronger.
 

"It wouldn't make the slightest difference in the evidence for evolution, except to make it stronger."

At this point evolution is so well-demonstrated as to be beyond reasonable doubt, so the implications for creationism v evolution would be the least interesting aspect of the discovery of an extant pterosaur. We shouldn't get so bogged down in the pseudo-science pseudo-issue of creationism that we don't experience at least a bit of a thrill at the mere notion of an extant pterosaur, even if there is no reasonable hope we'll find one.
 

I think you missed my point, Glen. I was not thinking of a discovery being "news" or "expand[ing] our knowledge potential." What I was trying to get at is that we have a solid body of well-documented evidence for the transformation of one lineage of ground-dwelling maniraptoran theropods into birds. Why worry about a lack of evidence for living pterosaurs (which probably do not exist anyhow) when we have confirmed that birds are living dinosaurs? A discovery of a "persistent type" - be it a pterosaur or ammonite or something else - would be wonderful, but I think it is even better when we can provide context for living creatures by finding evidence of evolutionary transitions which occurred long ago. Maybe I am alone in that sentiment, but there you have it.
 

I think it is even better when we can provide context for living creatures by finding evidence of evolutionary transitions which occurred long ago. Maybe I am alone in that sentiment, but there you have it.

You are not alone. Of course, a "persistent type" might also provide evidence of evolutionary transitions which occurred long ago but they are necessarily rare and hardly of the importance of the things we can learn from the more familiar life we see every day.