RICHARDOESTESIA ?POSTCRANIA, NEW JUNGORNITHID

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

Sorry Luis, I ended up spending yesterday at the zoo.

Re: _Richardoestesia gilmorei_, I am reliably informed that 
there is undescribed postcranial material at the Tyrrell that 
may be referable to this taxon. Apparently this material 
suggests that _Richardoestesia_ is a compsognathid-grade 
coelurosaur, and not much to do with maniraptorans. I will 
ask my source if they can provide more info.

BTW, has anyone yet asked Phil Currie which spelling of 
_Richardoestesia_ he presently goes along with? Not to 
start that thread again, but this was a question that came up 
last time and was never answered. 

Moving on, the following is out..

Mayr, G. 2003. A new Eocene swift-like bird with a 
peculiar feathering. _Ibis_ 145, 382-391.

The new Messel taxon _Parargornis messelensis_ is 
described and tentatively assigned to the jungornithids. 
While _P. messelensis_ shares with _Jungornis_ and 
_Argornis_ the derived presence of a pronounced ventro-
proximal ridge on the ventral cotyle of the proximal ulna 
seen in trochilids, _P. messelensis_ lacks the several 
humeral characters noted by Karhu (1999) as common to 
jungornithids and trochilids. Jungornithidae is therefore 
probably paraphyletic, with _Jungornis_ and _Argornis_ 
closer to trochilids than is _Parargornis_. 

Not only does _P. messelensis_ provide further evidence for 
derivation of trochilids from ancestors with broad, swift-
like bills (don't forget that Mayr (2002) found aegothelids to 
be the sister-taxon to the swift-trochilid clade), the 
feathering preserved shows that _P. messelensis_ had short, 
broad wings and two long, broad symmetrical tail feathers. 
It is unlikely therefore that _P. messelensis_ was a glider or 
at all trochilid-like: it may have been an agile flier in 
cluttered habitats. 

-- 
Darren Naish
School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
University of Portsmouth UK, PO1 3QL

email: darren.naish@port.ac.uk
tel: 023 92846045