Re: Metaves and Coronaves

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> I believe I've seen it published, but Google can't find that...

But here's something it can find!

Gerald Mayr: A partial skeleton of a new fossil loon (Aves, Gaviiformes) 
from the early Oligocene of Germany with preserved stomach content, Journal 
of Ornithology 145, 281 -- 286 (published online 11 August 2004)

> >
The earliest fossil gaviiform is *Neogaeornis wetzeli* from the Cretaceous 
of Chile (Olson 1992), known from a single tarsometatarsus that resembles 
the highly derived bone of modern loons. Chatterjee (2002) reported another 
supposed loon, *Polarornis gregorii*, from the Cretaceous of Antarctica, of 
which were found the proximal part of the bill and the adjacent distal part 
of the cranium, parts of the otic region, four vertebrae, a small sternum 
fragment, a femur, and a proximal tibiotarsus. Despite this very fragmentary 
preservation, Chatterjee (2002) presented a detailed "reconstruction" of the 
entire skeleton and a complete skull in which most parts were "constructed 
by pressing (...) paper pulp into a mold that was sculpted first in clay" 
(Chatterjee 2002, pp. 128); it is difficult to understand why Chatterjee 
(1997, pp. 117) described the skull of *Polarornis* as being "fairly intact, 
beautifully preserved" and figured a drawing of a complete skull with no 
indication that substantial parts were reconstructed and are not preserved 
in the specimen.
<<
> >
The phylogenetic position of *Colymboides minutus* relative to *Neogaeornis* 
and *Polarornis* is uncertain, owing to the incomplete preservation of the 
Cretaceous taxa. *Polarornis* significantly differs from modern loons in 
several characters (Chatterjee 2002, p. 133) and, if correctly assigned to 
the Gaviiformes, may be a synonym of *Neogaeornis* - a possibility already 
raised by Olson (1992) but not discussed by Chatterjee (2002).
<<

I trusted the drawing in the book from 1997. In the immortal words of Jack 
Slater... Mighty big mistake.