RE: [Fwd: Dinosaur Society]

["T. Mike Keesey" <tkeese1@gl.umbc.edu>]

On Thu, 27 Aug 1998, Stewart, Dwight wrote:

>  Speaking of birds & dinosaurs, I have a question for the list:  am I
> correct in assuming that (ironically) the order Saurischia is closer to
> birds that the Ornithischia?  I'm sure this has probably been addressed
> before, sorry. 

According to the Linnaean system, yes. The ornithischian pelvis is only
superficially bird-like, so the name is a misnomer.

Under the increasingly popular cladistic system (which I would guess that
more people on this list, and perhaps in the profession, use), birds *are*
saurischians! (And Saurischia is not an Order -- cladistics doesn't use
absolute ranks higher than Genus.) The situation becomes even more ironic
...

--T. Mike Keesey                                   <tkeese1@gl.umbc.edu>
DINOSAUR WEB PAGES -- http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~tkeese1/dinosaur/index.htm