RE: Rahonavis; sickle claws

["Williams, Tim" <TiJaWi@agron.iastate.edu>]

Gerrit Hanenburg wrote:

>At 09:35 26-11-2001 -0500, Thomas Holtz wrote:
>
> >The number of times this featured evolved within Maniraptora is
uncertain.
> >Seriamas have it, and are derived modern birds, so this origin is
> > separate from any of the Mesozoic origins.

>Surely you mean cassowaries, not seriemas?

Seriemas (_Chunga_ and _Cariama_) do have a sickle-claw on the second toe.
So do certain phorusrhacids (e.g. _Psilopterus_).  Cariamids and
phorusrhacids are gruiform birds, so the presence of an enlarged sickle-claw
may be a shared derived feature.


Tim