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RE: on-line fossil birds list

Ian Paulsen wrote-

 I found this list of fossil birds on-line:

 http://www.answers.com/topic/fossil-birds

I was wondering how accurate it is?

Overall, the Mesozoic parts look decent. I'd recommend my own list of course- http://students.washington.edu/eoraptor/Phylogeny%20of%20Taxa.html

Specific complaints about the Answers.com list include-
- Enantiornithes is named after the opposite direction of concave-convexity in their scapulacoracoid compared to ornithurines, not their metatarsal fusion.
- If you're going to place Protopteryx and Longipteryx in Enantiornithes (which may be right), Abavornis, Catenoleimus, Explorornis and Incolornis should be included too.
- Jibeinia is almost certainly not an enantiornithine.
- Sinornis has priority over Cathayornis.
- Boluochia is near certainly not in such an exclusive "Cathayornithidae" clade.
- There's no reason to separate Gobipteryx and Explorornis? walkeri from Avisaurus, Soroavisaurus, Neuquenornis and Enantiornis in a separate Gobipterygiformes/idae.
- Lectavis and Zhyraornis have not been shown to be enantiornithiforms, in the sense the webpage uses that grouping.

Tim Williams wrote-

Hulsanpes (Late Cretaceous
This critter was recently said to be a dromaeosaurid after all (I think I saw this in the _Atrociraptor_ description). 

Yes, but without any justification.

Sapeornis (Jiufotang Early Cretaceous of Chaoyang City, China)
I wouldn't put _Sapeornis_ in Omnivoropterygidae etc quite yet. This needs to be tested by phylogenetic analysis.

I agree it would be nice if it were tested in a published analysis (it would help if most professionals would stop pretending Czerkas' book didn't exist), but is this really necessary? There doesn't seem to be any doubt Omnivoropteryx is extremely similar to Sapeornis, perhaps even a junior synonym.

_Jinzhouornis_ is a Liaoning taxon, from the lower Yixian Formation. The genus needs a more in-depth description.

I think the description is up to Yixian bird standards, but just not translated yet from Chinese. That being said, most Yixian birds could use more in-depth descriptions. The photos leave no doubt the two species are confuciusornithids, probably synonymous with C. santus itself. See http://dml.cmnh.org/2002Oct/msg00369.html