FLAMINGOS

["Matthew Troutman" <m_troutman@hotmail.com>]

>You may be thinking of Juncitarsus, which Olson and Feduccia >consider 
a "shorebird-flamingo mosaic" (see Feduccia's book at p. >208), a view 
supported by Stefan Peters.

Feduccia, A.  1976.  Osteological evidence for shorebird affinities of 
the flamingos.  Auk 93: 587-601.  

Feduccia argues that Anseriformes and Phoenicopteriformes share a 
special common ancestor away from _Presbyornis_, which is the sister of 
the flamingo-anseriform grouping.  Shorebirds (and recurvirostrids as a 
possible independent branch of the shorebirds) form the sister to the 
_Presbyornis_+Flamingos+Ducks group.  

>Ah.  This is, of course, the Juncitarsus paper.  I confess, though, I 
>am not so sure about comparing flamingos to the living Banded Stilt, >a 
communal breeder with somewhat flamingo-like behaviour that is >surely a 
case of convergence.  The fossil evidence is interesting, >though.

Olson and Feduccia built their case on ethology, detailed myology, 
oology, parasitology, biochemical analysis, osteology, and fossil 
evidence.  They found that _Cladorhynchus_ among the recurvirostrids 
matches up more than any other member.  The evidence is pretty 
extensive.

Matt Troutman 
m_troutman@hotmail.com


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