Re: No Cretaceous placental mammals?

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

> They find _Vegavis iaai_, a Maastrichtian bird from Antarctica, to be
> a stem-anatid. This means, at the very least, that pan-palaeognathes,
> pan-galliforms, pan-neoavians, pan-anhimids, pan-anatids, and the
> _Anseranas_ total group were distinct before the K/Pg boundary. (Also
> possibly the _Lithornis_ branch--or is _Lithornis_ considered a
> palaeognathe now?)

The lithornithids are traditionally considered paleognaths, but a few 
analyses, such as Livezey & Zusi's humongous one, have found them (usually 
*Lithornis* alone) as the sister-group of Neornithes.

Most bird "orders" of course belong to Neoaves... there were neornitheans in 
the Cretaceous, but there may not have been a lot.