RE: Vegavis gen. nov. - new anseriform in today's Nature

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Christopher Taylor wrote:

> The phylogenetic analysis used the Clarke and Norell (2002) dataset to
> identify _Vegavis_ as neornithean, then the Mayr & Clarke (2003) dataset to
> establish a place among Anseriformes (in an unresolved trichotomy with
> _Presbyornis_ and Anatidae - _Vegavis_ was originally identified as
> 'Presbyornithidae indet.', but the authors here find nothing to link it
> specifically to _Presbyornis_).

The species name ("iaai") sounds like something Dr Feduccia might say after 
reading the paper.  Clarke et al. (2004) refute head-on Feduccia's notion 
that there modern avian lineages did not appear until after the Cretaceous, 
as part of an early Tertiary "explosion".



Tim