2 refs that were once new...

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

I've finally read

J. R. Speakman & S. C. Thomson: Flight capabilities of *Archaeopteryx*,
Nature 370, 514 (18 August 1994)

Excerpts:

"Evaluations of muscle power^2 and osteology of the wrist^3 both concluded
that *Archaeopteryx* could not sustain powered (flapping) flight, but this
is at odds with the asymmetry of its flight feathers, which is indicative of
aerodynamic function^4,5. Here we compare feather vane asymmetry in
*Archaeopteryx* with extant birds that fly, glide and are flightless."
        "The extent of asymmetry in the feathers of *Archaeopteryx* is only
slight, significantly lower than in modern flying birds and comparable to
that of extant non-flying birds. Our feather asymmetry results are thus
consistent with data suggesting that its muscles were insufficient to power
sustained flapping flight^2 and that the structure of its wrist could not
execute a flapping motion in the wings^3."

refs (I haven't read any of them):
2 J. R. Speakman, Evolution 47, 336 -- 340 (1993)
3 R. J. Vazquez, J. Morphol. 211, 259 -- 268 (1992)
4 A. Feduccia & M. Tordoff, Science 203, 1021f. (1979)
5 R. A. Norberg, 303 -- 318 in M. K. Hecht (ed): The Beginnings of Birds,
Freunde des Jura-Museums Eichstätt (1985)

In the figures Archie is right in the middle of the range for flightless
birds. Its trailing-vane width : leading-vane width is ~ 1.25. Flightless
birds (18 species from 10 families) range from ~ 0.75 to ~ 3.75, peak at ~
1.25; flapping birds (71 species from 71 families) ~ 2.25 -- ~ 11,75, high
peak at 3.25, middle peak at 5.75, low peak at 7.25; gliding birds (7
species from 7 families) are wholly within the range for flappers.

Means, Archie was incapable of both flapping and gliding. I (or someone
else, of course) have yet to check whether its rhaches are exceptionally
thick, as predicted by HP Jim Cunningham for a flier with symmetrical wing
feathers. So far I can't recall this being true.

My questions are:
- What is current thinking on the morphological issues?
- What on earth can they have meant by "gliding birds"?



The following paper hasn't been mentioned onlist IIRC. It not only puts
flamingos next to grebes, but also says Pelecaniformes and Ciconiiformes are
for the wastebasket much like old Insectivora. The extant Charardriiformes
are paraphyletic. I haven't actually read it yet (I don't understand most of
molecular phylogeny stuff).

Marcel Van Tuinen, Dave [sic] Brian Butvill, John A. W. Kirsch & S. Blair
Hedges (sbhl@psu.edu): Convergence and divergence in the evolution of
aquatic birds, Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences 268,
1345 -- 1350 (7 May 2001 IIRC)

Abstract:
"Aquatic birds exceed other terrestrial vertebrates in the diversity of
their adaptations to aquatic niches. For many species this has created
difficulty in understanding their evolutionary origin and, in particular,
for the flamingos, hamerkop, shoebill and pelecaniforms. Here, new evicence
from nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences and DNA-DNA hybridization data
indicates extensive morphological convergence and divergence in aquatic
birds. Among the unexpected findings is a grouping of flamingos and grebes,
species which otherwise show no resemblance. These results suggest that the
traditional characters used to unite certain aquatic groups, such as
totipalmate feet, foot-propelled diving and long legs, evolved more than
once and that organismal change in aquatic birds has proceeded at a faster
pace than previously recognized."

The DNA-DNA hybridization phylogeny (names kept, presentation adapted). P =
traditional pelecaniform, C = traditional (Cracraft 1981) ciconiiform (in
1988 Cracraft removed the herons and added the New World vultures).
        "Asterisks indicate nodes supported by 100% of the 1000 bootstrap
replicates, except for that uniting all taxa including and above the
booby-darter-cormorant clade, which received 98% support. All other nodes
were supported by > 50% of the replicates. [...] Nodes that were not
supported by jackknifing are shown with dotted lines."

,--domestic fowl
|
`--+--gruiform
     |
     `--*--goshawk
          |
          `...+--owl
               |
               `...*--+--tropic bird P
                    |    `--*--grebe
                    |         `--flamingo C
                    |
                    `--*--*--cormorant P
                         |    `--+--booby P
                         |         `--darter P
                         |
                         `--+--heron C
                              |
                              `...+...+--ibis C
                                   |     `--*--hamerkop C
                                   |          `--*--pelican P
                                   |               `--shoebill C
                                   |
                                   `...+--frigate bird P
                                        |
                                        `--+--stork C
                                             |
                                             `...+--penguin
                                                  `--+--albatross
                                                       `--shearwater

The sequence-based phylogeny (50 % condensed bootstrap consensus tree).
"Asterisks indicate nodes that were significantly ( > 95%) supported based
on bootstrapping using maximum likelihood or a standard error test using
neighbour joining."

,--*--domestic fowl
|    `--domestic duck
|
`--+--+--gruiform
     |    `--+--plover
     |         `--gull
     |
     |--*--flamingo C
     |    `--grebe
     |
     |--+--tropic bird P
     |    `--*--cormorant P
     |         `--booby P
     |
     |--*--+--heron C
     |    |    `--ibis C
     |    |
     |    `--*--hamerkop C
     |         `--+--pelican P
     |              `--shoebill C
     |
     |--+--loon
     |    `--*--penguin
     |         `--shearwater
     |
     `--stork C

This supports a Late Cretaceous SA/Antarctic/Australian divergence of
Neoaves, given the LK loon *Polarornis*.

Now I have to continue reading The Compleat Cladist to find out what
bootstrapping and jackknifing are...