Re: AW: SV: avian nomenclature

[Tim Williams <tijawi@yahoo.com>]

Evelyn Sobielski <koreke77@yahoo.de> wrote:


> Because it may just be that the "Cariamae" (= today's
> "Cariamiformes") is all that is needed to make the
> traditional Falconiformes monophyletic. 


Good point.  However, his work on the Eocene raptor _Messelastur_ led to a 
phylogeny in which Strigiformes (owls) was nested inside traditional 
Falconiformes (Mayr, 2005).  Incidentally, Cariamidae were recovered outside 
this Falconiformes+Strigiformes clade.


> Though the courol
> ("cuckoo-roller") also needs to be considered, in particular
> as _Plesiocathartes_ is now placed there fide Mayr. Which
> makes the courol lineage "N Atlantic" in origin, with the
> present Malagasy distribution relictual.


Yep, the cuckoo-roller is a weird one.  For those interested, Mayr's paper on 
the cuckoo-roller (or courol), and many others, is available here:

http://www.senckenberg.de/root/index.php?page_id=532


Cheers

Tim