Re: How are columbiformes (doves and pigeons) related to psittaciformes?

["Tim Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

The Mayr (2000) paper quoted by Mickey also repeats Mayr's previous 
objections to referring the parrot-like beak fragment from the Lance 
Formation to the Psittacidae.  This would mean that the strikingly 
parrot-like characters in the Late Cretaceous lower jaw fragment (e.g., 
K-shaped neurovascular canal, very concave symphysis) would be the result of 
convergence.  (Or the specimen was reworked, although I don't want to 
pooh-pooh the stratigraphical work of the folks who unearthed the specimen).


Stidham, T.A. (1998). A lower jaw from a Cretaceous parrot. Nature 396: 
29-30.

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