Re: Protopenguins and pterosaurs

[Michael Habib <mhabib5@jhmi.edu>]

Plotopterids are truly awesome critters.  Interestingly, they seem to 
have kicked the bucket right about the time that the giant penguins did 
in the Southern Hemisphere (plotopertids were rather large, for the 
most part, for those unfamiliar).  This disappearance was commented on 
by G. G. Simpson many years ago.

Plotopterids are not the only wing-propelled swimmers that were so 
similar to penguins, either.  The Mancalline auks (definitely 
convergent) were very similar in the forelimb anatomy as well 
(significantly more so than Pinguinus).  I plan to include all of the 
above in biomechanical analyses, so I'd naturally love to see some more 
trees include the various aquatic wing-propelled critters.

Cheers,

--Mike

> The plotopterids are mentioned a few times in the text.  These were 
> flightless, wing-propelled diving birds that were strikingly similar 
> to penguins; they are usually allied with pelecaniforms with the 
> morphological similarities to penguins attributed to convergence (as 
> argued by Olson).  However, there's no mention in the text of Mayr's 
> (2004) hypothesis that penguins and plotopterids might actually be 
> closely related (sister taxa).  It would be interesting to have 
> plotopterids in the same morphological analysis as penguins and 
> _Waimanu_.
>
> Cheers
>
> Tim