Re: Dinosauricon Phylogeny: in progress

["Mickey Mortimer" <Mickey_Mortimer111@msn.com>]

David Marjanovic wrote-

> > Richardoestesia (I see you left the h out, oh the fun...)
>
> Well... that's how it was intended. Editorial errors shouldn't count.

Not starting up this debate again... :-)

> > Dromaeosauridae is defined as (Dromaeosaurus + Velociraptor) isn't it?
>
> Yes, but not by Sereno, who uses this name for the sistergroup of
> Troodontidae.

We're going to have to see which definition is published first under
Phylocode rules after 1-1-200n.

> > Rahonavis has been placed closer to neornithines than Archaeopteryx in
all
> > modern analyses (Clarke et al., Chiappe).
>
> That's probably an artifact of leaving out *Sapeornis* and
*Shenzhouraptor*.
> For example, the fibula of *Sapeornis* still reaches the tarsus, while
those
> of *Rahonavis*, *Shenzhouraptor* and Pygostylia do not...

Don't see how that character contradicts the topology (Arch (Rahon, Neorn)).
Rahonavis looks closest to Shenzhouraptor and perhaps Yandangornis.
Sapeornis and confuciusornithids seem to be a bit more derived.

> > The Ornithuromorpha should be structured like-
> > Ornithuromorpha (=Euornithes?)
> > |-?Vorona
> > `--+--Patagopteryx
>
> Euornithes (stem-based)
>   |--*Vorona*
>   `--Ornithuromorpha (node-based)
>        |--*Patagopteryx*
>
> *Vorona* fits in that position quite comfortably. E. g. it retains a 5th
> metatarsal, but the tarsometatarsus fuses distally first.

But Ornithuromorpha is defined as including Vorona.  Some of Clarke's (2002)
analyses place Vorona as an enantiornithine, potentially making
Ornithuromorpha equal Ornithothoraces.  And since Euornithes is defined as
everything closer to neornithines than to Sinornis, it could include taxa
like Gobipteryx and Enantiornis if Enantiornithes is paraphyletic.  BTW,
Vorona's fifth metatarsal has to be a reversal if you take its absence in
Longipteryx, Jibeinia and enantiornithines into account.

> >       |--Yanornithidae
> >       |  `--+--Yanornis
> >       |     `--+--Yixianornis
> >       |        `--Songlingornis
>
> These 2 nodes are supported by 1 character each, one of which could be
> related to the degree of ossification of the sternum... we'll see. (My
analysis
> will be finished soon.)

Supported by 1 character each that Clarke et al. (2002) decided to present.
They near certainly had others too.

> >          |*-Ambiortidae
> >          |  `--+--Ambiortus
> >          |     `-?Otogornis
>
> Assuming anything can be read out of these fragmentary fossils.

Finally got a hard copy of Kurochkin (1999), so I can answer questions about
this if needed.

> >             |  `--+--+--Enaliornis barretti
> >             |     |  `--Enaliornis sedgwicki
>
> And *E. seeleyi*. There's a thick paper in Revue de Paléobiologie that I
> haven't copied yet. In it, Galton and Martin describe every splinter of
bone and
> erect this 3rd species.

Good to see that's out.  My library doesn't carry it (grumble...).  And I
would have thought they synonymized the two others, not split them and made
a third...

> >             |           `--+--Hesprornis regalis
> >             |              |--Hesperornis rossicus
> >             |              |--Hesperornis chowi
> >             |              |--Hesperornis bairdi
> >             |              |--Hesperornis mengeli
> >             |              `--Hesperornis macdonaldi
>
> Wow, so many. I only knew the first 2.

The latter ones were all described by Martin and Lim
(http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2002Nov/msg00380.html).  Four Hesperornis
species from the same formation, one of which is not comparable to the
others?  I have a feeling all will turn out to be synonymous.

> >             `--Carinatae
> >                `--+--Ichthyornis dispar
>
> What happened to *I. victor*? Isn't it the type?

No.  I. dispar is the type, and I. victor is a junior synonym (Clarke,
2002).
Ichthyornis Marsh 1872
= Colonosaurus Marsh 1872
= Plegadornis Wetmore 1962 (preocc. Brehm 1855)
= Angelinornis Kashin 1972
I. dispar Marsh 1872
= Graculavus anceps Marsh 1872
= Graculavus agilis Marsh 1873
= Ichthyornis victor Marsh 1876
= Ichthyornis anceps Marsh 1880
= Ichthyornis agilis Marsh 1880
= Ichthyornis validus Marsh 1880
= Plegadornis antecessor Wetmore 1962
= Angelinornis antecessor Kashin 1972
= Ichthyornis antecessor Olson 1975

> >                      |--Gansus
>
> Why so high up?

Based on Clarke (2002), who placed it above Ichthyornis based on a
non-ginglymoid metatarsal II (highly homoplasic).  Other characters, which
I'm too lazy to determine, placed it above hesperornithines and other taxa.

Mickey Mortimer