Quite, and you can add Miocene Garganornisâ to that list as well as, for some value of giant,
Cnemiornisâ and the moa nalo species. Those birds, derived as they are, show the apparent ability of anatids to 'recapitulate' a decidedly more basal-appearing morphology when given the chance. Incidentally, I wonder if that could mean dromornithids,
gastornithids and Brontornisâ might not be as basal as their morphologies would indicate. How duck-like would
Garganornisâ still have been if it had been given a few million years more to evolve in a clean slate world like the early Paleocene was? What if it had been a stem-anatid, a anseranatid or a screamer, with all the less-derived morphology that would
have entailed?
Van: dinosaur-l-request@mymaillists.usc.edu <dinosaur-l-request@mymaillists.usc.edu> namens Tim Williams <tijawi@gmail.com>
Verzonden: maandag 22 februari 2021 10:01
Aan: dinosaur-l@usc.edu <dinosaur-l@usc.edu>
Onderwerp: Re: [dinosaur] Brontornis (giant flightless Miocene bird) belongs to Galloanserae (free pdf)
Verzonden: maandag 22 februari 2021 10:01
Aan: dinosaur-l@usc.edu <dinosaur-l@usc.edu>
Onderwerp: Re: [dinosaur] Brontornis (giant flightless Miocene bird) belongs to Galloanserae (free pdf)
If correct, the Galloanserae plays host to yet another lineage of giant, secondarily flightless birds in the form of _Brontornis_. This is along with dromornithids, gastornithids, and sylviornithids. Each of these has been proposed to have
lost the power of flight independently. In fact, one previous study even suggested that gastornithids may not be monophyletic (Worthy et al., 2017); this would mean _Gastornis_ and _Diatryma_ represent independent events of secondary flightlessness. Overall,
this would mean Galloanserae rival the Palaeognathae in the number of independently giant and flightless lineages.
On Sun, Feb 21, 2021 at 11:43 AM Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com> wrote:
Ben Creisler
A new paper with free pdf:
=====
Federico L. Agnolin (2021)
Reappraisal on the Phylogenetic Relationships of the Enigmatic Flightless Bird (Brontornis burmeisteri) Moreno and Mercerat, 1891.
Diversity 13(2): 90
doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/d13020090
https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/13/2/90
The fossil record of birds in South America is still very patchy. One of the most remarkable birds found in Miocene deposits from Patagonia is Brontornis burmeisteri Moreno and Mercerat, 1891. This giant flightless bird is known by multiple incomplete specimens that represent a few portions of the skeleton, mainly hindlimb bones. Since the XIX century, Brontornis was considered as belonging to or closely related to phorusrhacoid birds. In contrast to previous work, by the end of 2000 decade it was proposed that Brontornis belongs to Galloanserae. This proposal was recently contested based on a large dataset including both phorusrhacoids and galloanserine birds, that concluded Brontornis was nested among cariamiform birds, and probably belonged to phorusrhacoids. The aim of the present contribution is to re-evaluate the phylogenetic affinities of Brontornis. Based on modified previous datasets, it is concluded that Brontornis does belong to Galloanserae, and that it represents a member of a largely unknown radiation of giant graviportal birds from South America.