Re: feathered friends on-line

["Jonathan R. Wagner" <znc14@TTACS.TTU.EDU>]

John R. Hutchinson wrote:
>The Nature website has plenty o' stuff to see. Go to:
        Sadly, the supplementary information (data matrix) was not available
as of when I nabbed the article...

One interesting aspect of the cladogram provided is the apparently improper
application of Avialae. the authors exclude Caudipteryx from Avialae,
placing it with the latter taxon in a new, "unnamed", presumably stem-based,
taxon. As I currently understand Avialae, it is defined as (approximately):
"Modern birds [ugh!], and all taxa more closely related to modern birds than
to deinonychosaurs." If the tree topology is (Velociraptorinae,
Protarchaeopteryx, (Caudipteryx, Aves)), Caudipteryx is an Avialan, and the
"unnamed taxon" is Avialae. Hmm...

        Wagner
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    Jonathan R. Wagner, Dept. of Geosciences, TTU, Lubbock, TX 79409-1053
                    "...To fight legends." - Kosh Naranek