Re: Postorbital processes (& weighting??)

["Ken Kinman" <kinman@hotmail.com>]

    Nope.  Feduccia, Martin, and colleagues recognize a holophyletic 
Sauriurae (which goes all the way back to Archaeopteryx).
    According to their phylogeny, Aves would be a heterodefinitional 
synonym of Ornithothoraces (the latter would then be more inclusive than 
Pygostylia, not less).  So whether Ornithothoraces includes  
confuciusornithids (or not) depends entirely on whose phylogeny you are 
looking at.
    This is another good example of why I don't like anchored taxa.  
Traditional taxa based on good characters don't have near that much 
potential instability (of content) built into them.
            -------  Ken
******************************************
> From: "T. Mike Keesey"
> To: Ken Kinman <kinman@hotmail.com>
> CC: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
> Subject: Re: Postorbital processes (& weighting??)
> Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 21:06:52 -0500 (EST)
>
> On Mon, 17 Dec 2001, Ken Kinman wrote:
> > David asked in his original post if there are any "other 
> ornithothoracines
> > except confuciusornithids" with the process.  This phrase seemed to 
> imply he
> > believed confuciusornithids to be ornithothoracines (making the latter
> > equivalent to Pygostylia).  This didn't surprised me since some 
> phylogenies
> > would make Ornithothoraces even more inclusive than Pygostylia.
>
> They do? Which ones? Even Feduccia's just makes them heterodefinitional
> synonyms, I think.


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