Re: how many bird taxa survived K-T

[Stephen <stephenbowden@home.com>]

Ken Kinman wrote:
> 
> Dear All,
>       I think it is probably safe to say at least one anseriform family
> survived K-T, and at least one paleognath family and at least one galliform
> family.
>       But how many families of "higher" birds survived K-T seems less
> certain, although my intuition tells me that there probably weren't very
> many, especially considering the complete extinction of enantiornitheans.
>       How controversial is the "Cretaceous parrot", and are modern "shore
> birds" descended from a couple of surviving families or a whole bunch?
> Would be interested in some discussion of this, either in terms of species
> or higher taxa.
>                       -------Ken Kinman

Dingus and Lowe, in "The Mistaken Extinction: dinosaur evolution and the
origin of birds" (New York, NY: W.H. Freeman, 1998) argue that modern
birds have evolved from at least 20 taxa that survived the K/T - this
proposal is based on a combination of direct and indirect evidence. 
Unfortunately without the book to hand I cannot give the details.  I too
would be interested to know what others think of their reasoning, and
whether any subsequent finds have supported or undermined it.

cheers
Stephen