On 6/27/2011 12:40 PM, Jason Brougham wrote:
In other words, isn't it most parsimonious to assume that the brooding strategy held in common by Troodon, oviraptorids, (possibly Gobipteryx), tinamous and ratites is a synapomorphy, rather than a strategy that was independently converged upon four times?
Maybe. Do the tinamous and ratites have compelling reasons to behave in the specified way?
If a paternal-only model conveys obvious advantage over other models within the context of the common aspects of ratite/tinamou lifestyle, and those common aspects are time-transcendent and applicable to 'Troodon, et al', then I would suggest that that makes convergence more likely. If, OTOH, everyone is scratching their heads wondering "Why the heck are these birds are doing this?", then that makes convergence less likely...