Re: Oryctos Is Back

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "evelyn sobielski" <koreke77@yahoo.de>
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2008 3:54 PM

> Of course several of these "bird-like" theropod lineages are liable to 
> form a clade. But which, and how do they tie together? Are Neornithes 
> closer to Enantiornithes than either is to Archie? What did the 
> _Dalianraptor_, _Shenzhouraptor_, ... lineages evolve into, if they 
> evolved into anything? Is _Rahonavis_ functionally (but not 
> phylogenetically) an Archie redux? Where did _Sapeornis_ come from? 
> Essentially, would the real Aves please fly up?

All of these questions are currently best answered by "Good question! Next 
question?" -- except one: Neornithes and Enantiornithes are clearly much 
closer to each other than to Archie. Supporting evidence can be found in the 
shortened tail and pygostyle, the reduced 3rd finger, the flange on the 2nd 
finger for firmer wing feather attachment, the alula, the carpometacarpus, 
the joint between scapula and coracoid, and numerous other AFAIK mostly 
flight-related characters; consult any phylogenetic analysis ever done on 
the problem. Contradictory evidence (keywords: Saururae, Sauriurae) can only 
be seen by BANDits; BAD people are somehow blind to it... ;-)

*Sapeornis* is fairly clearly the sister-group of the misnamed Pygostylia 
(see the simplified tree below for where that name applies), but it has 
evidently undergone its own specialization, leading to a couple of 
convergences with Ornithothoraces.

--Avebrevicauda
   |--*Sapeornis*
   `--Pygostylia
        |--Confuciusornithidae
        `--Ornithothoraces
             |--Enantiornithes
             `--Euornithes
                  |--*Patagopteryx*
                  `--+--Hesperornithes
                     `--+--*Ichthyornis*
                        `--Neornithes