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Re: Is Euornithes preoccupied?

Ken Kinman wrote:

    Is Euornithes Sereno, 1998, not preoccupied by Euornithes Dementjev,
1940 (a group which apparently refers to a group of enantiornitheans)?

Dementjev cannot have named a clade within the Enantiornithes back in 1940, since the Enantiornithes wasn't named until 1981.

More recently (1996), I've seen Kurochkin use the Euornithes as a clade within the Enantiornithes. I also remember thinking what an utterly daft idea it was. There's the etymological incongruity of having the "true birds" as a subgroup of "opposite birds"!!??; (reminds me of putting the Suchia inside the Pseudosuchia). Sereno uses the name Euornithes for the _sister taxon_ to the Enantiornithes. As such, Sereno's Euornithes includes modern birds (Neornithes), ichthyornithids, and hesperornithiforms, but not Enantiornithes, confuciusornithids or _Archaeopteryx_.

Oviraptorosauria
Paraves
 Deinonychosauria
 Aves
   _Archaeopteryx_
   Ornithurae
     _Confuciusornis_
     Ornithothoraces
       Enantiornithes
       Euornithes


I would say that if Sereno provided a definition of the Euornithes, then it would probably stand (from memory I can't recall the taxa in which Euornithes was anchored by Sereno). In other words, Sereno's 1999 usage (see above) would supplant Kurochkin's 1996 usage of the name Euornithes (as a clade of enantiornithine birds). Although Kurochkin diagnosed the Euornithes, he did not (AFAIK) provide a formal definition of the taxon. Either way, Dementjev (1940) gets credit for the name Euornithes.

Confused?  Join the club.


Tim



------------------------------------------------------------


Dr Timothy J. Williams
USDA/ARS, Agronomy Hall
Iowa State University
Ames IA 50014

Phone: 515 294 9233
Fax:   515 294 3163

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