Re: Bird phylogeny

[theropod@garnet.berkeley.edu (John R. Hutchinson)]

Speaking of Sibley, birds, phylogeny and such, what do ornithologists (and
cladists, and others for that matter) think of Cracraft and Mindell's 1989
paper
(The early history of birds: a comparison of molecular and morphological
evidence) from _The Hierarchy of Life_?

I just breezed through it, and thought that it was a rather level-headed
approach, albeit a bit condescending to the molecular folks.

(Synopsis for those who haven't read it): A priori dismissal of either
molecular or morphological systematic inquiries is silly. The best way to
navigate towards "the true phylogeny" is to compare congruence of data
sets.

Thanks in advance for replies.

                        John R. Hutchinson
                  Evolving Evolutionary Biologist
                 Department of Integrative Biology
                  3060 Valley Life Sciences Bldg
                University of California - Berkeley
                        Berkeley, CA 94720
                          (510) 643-2109
         http://ucmp1.berkeley.edu/people/jrh/homepage.html