Re: Hongshanornis longicresta

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

David Marjanovic wrote:

> (Now if it had been called *H. longicr_i_sta*...)

The authors say "cresta" is a Latin word.

> Why do you think they are using any? They might just be following BAND
> usage (you know, the opposite of "Sauriurae") which seems to be rather
> popular in China.

That could be true - at least in part.  Although Zhou and Zhang's 
phylogenetic analysis (Fig. 6, in "Supporting Information") does not support 
a basal Sauriurae-Ornithurae split, the authors may be keeping much the same 
content for Ornithurae as for classifications that do use the 
Sauriurae-Ornithurae system.  Zhou and Zhang's phylogenetic analysis gives 
_Archaeopteryx_, _Jeholornis_, _Sapeornis_, _Confuciusornis_, and _Vorona_ 
as successive outgroups to an Enantiornithes+'Ornithurae' clade - thus, 
Martin's 'Sauriurae', is paraphyletic, and the name 'Sauriurae' is not even 
mentioned in the text.

According to Taxon Search, Sauriurae (originally Saururae) does not have a 
phylogenetic definition.  Big surprise there.

Cheers

Tim