Re: Ornithurine diversity

[evelyn sobielski <koreke77@yahoo.de>]

> How well do we know enantiornithean tail shapes? Is this
> thread just an 
> inference from the long pygostyle?

Not too well - there's only a limited number of the limited number of 
sufficiently complete fossils that preserves feather impressions. But until 
now, the exclusive association of rectric(i)al bulbs and a short pygostyle (as 
per the _Yixianornis_ description) seems to hold true.
In any case, this was just a throwaway remark; I think the best candidate is 
geography. We know that the basal lineages of Neornithes (as far as we known 
them) as well as the basal lineages of crown Galloanserae are Gondwanan. The 
fossil record of Enantiornithes from Gondwana is only reasonably comprehensive 
in South America, but these seem to have been quite derived forms (_Lectavis_, 
_Yungavolucris_ come to mind). As long as there are no accessible 
Campanian-Maastrichtian strata in Byrd Land, Australia is probably the place to 
dig for a solution. 
(From the phylogenetic aspect, Albian-Turonian strata might be more 
interesting. As far as I can tell, "around 100 million years ago" seems to be a 
nice and reasonable guesstimate for the origin of Neornithes)
 
> > pigeons and doves.
> 
> "And"? I thought these were synonyms, or at most
> one was the cover term for 
> the other? ~:-|

pigeons - larger, shorter tail
doves - smaller, longer tail

As the "typical" pigeons are _Columba_ and the "typical" doves are 
_Streptopelia_ to most people - almost closest living relatives - the term has 
no scientific meaning.


Regards,

Eike


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