[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index]
Re: Viva Neornithine Birds!
----- Original Message -----
From: "john bois" <jbois@verizon.net>
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 1:49 PM
With only one bird species surviving we _cannot_ invoke
pre-boundary competition/predation. With more--and all
of them neornithines--this possibility remains open.
Well, with one, we could still invoke that. It would just become less
probable.
Or...
The extinctions may have been less severe in areas
that neornithines were dominant.
Possible, though improbable. Anyone willing to finance me a really
large-style expedition to Antarctica?
> How similar are they really?
Great question. Wish I knew.
Well. Apart from molecular divergence dates, there's no evidence yet for
Mesozoic arboreal neornithines, is there? If it stays that way, we have a
starting point (and only need to explain *Lectavis* and *Yungavolucris* away
anymore...).
How similar were _non-avian_ dinosaurs to
each other? Similar enough, apparently.
Well, too big to hide, ultimately dependent on green plant parts...
BTW, do you know of a reference that compares likely
functionality of the respective clades?
No, and I don't think any exists. The enantiornithine fossil record is still
very, very, very, very bad.
If we don't count *Rahonavis*, the alvarezsaurs, and the almost undescribed
*Yandangornis*, aren't *Patagopteryx* and *Vegavis* the only halfway
complete bird skeletons from the Late Cretaceous? Is there a reasonably
complete *Gobipteryx*?