Re: Protopenguins and pterosaurs

[Michael Mortimer <mickey_mortimer111@msn.com>]

David Marjanovic wrote-

> On a wall in Paris VI, near the office of Armand de Ricqlès (one of the 
> many coauthors), there's a poster like what is presented on congresses. 
> This looks like it's safe for me to publicly mention what it says: an 
> enantiornithean from Las Hoyas grew fast when it was young. The only 
> difference to extant birds seems to be that instead of stopping completely, 
> growth just slowed down drastically, resulting in LAGs in the outer regions 
> of the bone... while the inner, older parts got remodeled and are thus 
> usually not available for study.

That's-
Cambra-Moo et al., in press. Histological observations of enantiornithine 
bone (Saurischia, Aves) from the Lower Cretaceous of Las Hoyas (Spain). 
Comptes Rendus Palevol.
The pdf is available online.  The specimen is a partial leg.

Interesting how poorly supported most neoavian nodes are in the Waimanu 
molecular tree.  Basically tells us the unsurprising facts Neoaves, 
Charadriiformes and Procellariiformes exist.

I was surprised to see just how poorly Waimanu was supported as a penguin- 
"Waimanu is closer to penguins than to any other bird group in the following 
combination of characters: some thoracic vertebrae are not heterocoelous; 
synsacrum has 11-12 ankylozed vertebrae; hypotarsal crests and grooves of 
the tarsometatarsus are not well-developed (but medial hypotarsal crest is 
distinct)."
Those look like three plesiomorphic states to me.

Mickey Mortimer