Re: Little bird lost

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

>     Mayr, G. 2004. Old World fossil record of modern-type hummingbirds.
> Science 304 (5672): 861-864.

Very impressive paper!

>     Not as stunning as some of the other Messel birds

Not from Messel at all, but from an early Oligocene clay pit elsewhere in
Germany.

> Also, doesn't the Old World have large hovering insect
> pollinators such as sphinx moths that might be a
> better explanation for the flowers?

Yes, and those big fat butterflies look and sound like hummingbirds -- but
they are strictly nocturnal.

> Are Opisthocomidae and Cathartidae still held to have European ancestries?

Cathartidae not -- *Plesiocathartes* from Messel has turned out to be a
coraciiform. Opisthocomidae? I haven't read of a supposed European origin
for those. *Foro* is from North America.