[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index]

Re: Mesozoic roots of parrots and passerine birds



> Don't worry, Eufalconimorphae won't ever appear again. Like
> Pegasoferae.

 Pegasoferae is one of the few names dreamed up by molecular
 researchers that actually shows a bit of creativity. What do you
 call a clade that includes bats, horses, and Ferae (i.e., Carnivora
 plus whatever it's closest to, in this case pangolins)? Combine the
 bats and horses into winged horses, and then combine again! I think
 that's pretty clever.

Oh yes, I love it.

And it has 5150 Google hits. I don't think it's going away.

...Oh. Do I sense mistrust of the use of retroposon insertions in molecular phylogenetics? That would be unfortunate. Convergent insertion of the same retroposon in the same place of two genomes is right next to impossible. All that can happen to confound phylogenetics is incomplete lineage sorting -- which has been detected this way in the origins of Scrotifera and (as the new paper shows) Neoaves. I bet these were radiations into the empty world of the earliest Paleocene.

 (Eufalconimorphae might be even worse than these, though....)

Fortunately, the PhyloCode is against this monstrosity: the name Eufalconimorphae implies a "Falconimorphae" which appears not to exist.

I also hate the -ae in Psittacopasserae and Galloanserae. There is no way you can get from *Passer* or *Anser* to -ae. It should be Psittacopasseres and Gallanseres (without the stupid vowel cluster). But neither the PhyloCode nor the ICZN say anything about these.