Re: Genes show Neoaves branching before K/Pg extinction

[David Černý <david.cerny1@gmail.com>]

> We show that rheas are sister to the kiwis, emu and cassowaries, and confirm 
> ratite paraphyly

Polyphyly. Ratites could be paraphyletic only if the last common
ancestor of all paleognaths were a ratite, too -- a large flightless
bird with a keel-less sternum. In that case, tinamous would have to be
secondarily volant, and that is a bold proposal indeed to put it
mildly.

-- 
David Černý