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RE: Greg Paul is right (again); or "Archie's not a birdy"
- To: <martyniuk@gmail.com>, <dinosaur@usc.edu>
- Subject: RE: Greg Paul is right (again); or "Archie's not a birdy"
- From: "Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@umd.edu>
- Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 08:58:16 -0400
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> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu]
> On Behalf Of Matthew Martyniuk
> Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 8:22 AM
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Re: Greg Paul is right (again); or "Archie's not a birdy"
>
> To be fair, this again depends on how you define Aves. The
> oldest phylogenetic definition published for Aves is an
> apomorphy-based on anchored on the presence of feathers
> (Charig, 1985). In this usage (which is just as valid as any
> other pre-PhyloCode), feathers are not only a fundamental
> avian attribute, they are the *defining* attribute of Aves.
>
> (How you define 'feather' is another story).
>
> Matt
I find it highly unlikely that Charig defined ANYTHING phylogenetically! What
is his actual statement? I suspect it something more
along the line of "Aves is defined by the presence of feathers"; if so, that is
simply traditional pre-cladistic gradistic
classification. On the other hand, a statement along the lines of "Aves is that
entire branch of the tree of life descended from the
first feathered animal", that is a fairer claim to a phylogenetic defintion.