Re: Eoconfuciusornis, Paraprotopteryx, Pengornis, Aberratiodontus and other basal birds

[Mike Habib <habib@jhmi.edu>]

> Not
> like in _Piksi_ which I presume has the annoying
> tendency to attach to any weak-flying ornithothoracine
> (as was elegantly demonstrated in the original
> description, where it attached itself to a "clade" of
> galliforms, tinamous and terrestrial pigeons).

Considering that the "clade" in question includes a range of burst- 
launching species, I'm not sure I'd call them weak-flying taxa.

I make mention of this not to be irritating, but because it has  
important functional ramifications for understanding the paleoecology  
and evolution of fossil birds: it is very common to consider  
galliforms and other burst-specialists as 'poor flyers' because they  
lack much endurance flight capacity.  However, biomechanically  
speaking, they require stronger bone elements, greater muscle power,  
and greater forelimb excursion (at the shoulder, primarily) than most  
other birds - the flight apparatus of such animals is actually quite  
derived, and in some respects, rather hypertrophied.  If Piksi was  
indeed galliform-like (in the functional sense), then it would have  
been a rather more advanced flyer than many (if not most) other  
Cretaceous birds.

Cheers,

--Mike


Michael Habib, M.S.
PhD. Candidate
Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
1830 E. Monument Street
Baltimore, MD 21205
(443) 280-0181
habib@jhmi.edu