Re: HIGHER LANDBIRDS & CLAWS

["João S. Lopes Filho" <jodan99@uol.com.br>]

Eutreptodactylus itaboraiensis was not from Patagonia, but from Itaborai, a
small city near Rio de Janeiro.
----- Original Message -----
From: Tim Williams <tijawi@hotmail.com>
To: <darren.naish@port.ac.uk>; <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2001 1:55 PM
Subject: Re: HIGHER LANDBIRDS & CLAWS


>
> Darren Naish wrote:
>
> >Re: manual claws in _Tynskya_. An alular claw is also present in
> >_Gracilitarsus_, as the new complete specimen described by Mayr
> >(2001) demonstrates.
>
> The paper Darren is referring to is:
>
> Mayr, G. (2001).  A new specimen of the tiny Middle Eocene bird
> _Gracilitarsus mirabilis_ (New family: Gracilitarsidae).  The Condor 103:
> 78-84.
>
> There is a very pronounced claw on the alular digit.  _Gracilitarsus_ also
> has a short hallux combined with what Mayr interprets as a facultatively
> zygodactyl foot: "Given that _G. mirabilis_ is correctly assumed to have
> been (facultatively) zygodactyl, it might have been able to perch in trees
> and bushes, whereas the short hallux alone would have limited its grasping
> abilities."  Mayr also cites the size and proportions of the pedal digits
> and claws to argue for vertical clinging in _Gracilitarsus_.
>
> >On the subject of manual claws in neornithines, Alan Gishlick has
> >asserted that hoatzin chicks don't use their claws for climbing. I
> >disagree with this, having seen footage of climbing hoatzin chicks that
> >can definitely be seen to be using their claws.
>
> As have I.  The use of the wing-claws in climbing in juvenile hoatzins is
> also well-attested in the literature.
>
> >Incidentally, I'm especially interested in _Gracilitarsus_ because Mayr
> >notes that some of its tarsometatarsal characters recall those seen in
> >_Eutreptodactylus_, Baird and Vickers-Rich's 'primitive cuckoo' from
> >Patagonia.
>
> On a sad note: according to Mayr, the type specimen of _Eutreptodactylus_
(a
> complete tarsometatarsus) can no longer be located.
>