Re: Big birds on Paleoworld

[pharrinj@PLU.edu]

On Mon, 8 Jan 1996, Ronald Orenstein wrote:

> >What about the idea that teratorns, condors, and other new world vultures 
> >are actually related to storks?  BTW, do herons fit here as well?  Can 
> >anyone give me a good ref for an updated, in-depth bird classification?
> >
> 
> The classification of birds is presently in a great state of controversy and
> flux, particularly as a result of the DNA-based classification system
> proposed by Charles Sibley, John Ahlquist and the late Burt Monroe Jr.  They
> have published two books: Phylogeny and Classification of Birds (Sibley and
> Ahlquist) and Distribution and Taxonomy of the Birds of the World (Sibley
> and Monroe), plus a supplement to the latter. The first explains their work;
> the second is a world checklist with extensive notes.  However, many other
> books, including the Handbook of the Birds of the World (two volumes
> published so far by Lynx Ediciones), have chosen not to follow at least the
> ordinal classification Sibley proposes.
> 
> However, although the resulting rearrangement doesn't show up in most books,
> there is broad acceptance of the view that the cathartid (new world)
> vultures, storks and (presumably) teratorns are each other's closest
> relatives.  By this view the herons are more distant.  Sibley and Monroe
> classify them in this way:
> 
> Class Aves
> Order Ciconiiformes (traditionally this order is restricted to herons,
> storks, ibises  and a few other groups but here it is greatly broadened to
> include shorebirds, gulls, hawks, grebes and most seabirds)
> Suborder Ciconii (the above minus the shorebirds and gulls)
>     Infraorder Falconides (hawks, falcons etc)
>     Infraorder Ciconiides
>         Parvorder Podicipedida (grebes)
>         Parvorder Phaethontida (tropicbirds)
>         Parvorder Sulida (boobies. anhingas and cormorants)
>         Parvorder Ciconiida
>               Superfamily Ardeoidea (herons)
>               Superfamily Scopoidea (hammerkop)
>               Superfamily Phoenicopteroidea (flamingos)
>               Superfamily Threskiornithoidea (ibises and spoonbills)
>               Superfamily Pelecanoidea (pelicans, shoebill)
>               Superfamily Ciconoidea
>                       Family Ciconiidae
>                                Subfamily Cathartinae (new world vultures)
>                                Subfamily Ciconiidae (storks)
>                Superfamily Procellarioidea (frigatebirds, penguins, loons,
> albatrosses, petrels)
> 
> As this is a classification of living birds the teratorns are not included.
> Bear in mind that this is a VERY different classification from the one in
> most books on birds!
> --
> Ronald I. Orenstein                           Phone: (905) 820-7886 (home)
> International Wildlife Coalition              Fax/Modem: (905) 569-0116 (home)
> Home: 1825 Shady Creek Court                  Messages: (416) 368-4661
> Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5L 3W2          Internet: ornstn@inforamp.net
> Office: 130 Adelaide Street W., Suite 1940    
> Toronto, Ontario Canada M5H 3P5             
> 
> 

I did notice that it is very different from most classifications, but 
intuitively many aspects of it make sense to me.  It is also much more 
compact than the traditional "Class Aves", without the thirty or so 
orders usually included therein.  This seems to me more in keeping with 
the fact that modern bird groups have only had about one hundred million 
years (at MOST) to differentiate.

     Thanks!

     Nick Pharris
     Pacific Lutheran University
     Tacoma, WA