Estelle Bourdon, Armand de Ricqles, Jorge Cubo, 2009. A new Transantarctic
relationship: morphological evidence for a Rheidae-Dromaiidae-Casuariidae clade
(Aves, Palaeognathae, Ratitae). Zoological Journal [London] 156(3):641-663.
ABSTRACT. Although ratites have been studied in considerable detail, avian
systematists have been unable to reach a consensus regarding their
relationships. Morphological studies indicate a basal split separating
Apterygidae from all other extant ratites, and a sister-group relationship
between Rheidae and Struthionidae. Molecular studies have provided evidence for
the paraphyly of the Struthionidae and Rheidae, with respect to a clade of
Australasian extant ratites. The position of the extinct Dinornithidae and
Aepyornithidae also remains hotly debated. A novel pattern of diversification of
ratites is presented herein. The phylogenetic analysis is based on 17 taxa and
129 morphological characters, including 77 new characters. The resultant tree
yields a sister-group relationship between New Zealand ratites (Apterygidae plus
Dinornithidae) and all other ratites. Within this clade, the Aepyornithidae and
Struthionidae are successive sister taxa to a new, strongly supported clade
comprising the Rheidae, Dromaiidae, and Casuariidae. The link between South
American and Australian biotas proposed here is congruent with numerous studies
that have evidenced closely related taxa on opposite sides of the Southern
Pacific. These repeated patterns of area relationships agree with current
knowledge on Gondwana break-up, which indicates that Australia and South America
remained in contact across Antarctica until the earliest Tertiary.???
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
STEPHAN PICKERING / Chofetz Chayim ben-Avraham

THE DINOSAUR FRACTALS PROJECT

2333 Portola Drive # 4

Santa Cruz, California 95062-4250
stephanpic kering@...


website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paleo_bio_dinosaur_ontology?

IN PROGRESS: Mutanda Dinosaurologica: in memory of Samuel Paul Welles (9
November 1909--6 August 1997)

IN PROGRESS: Dialects of a synaesthetic heart: poetics for Faline Pickering, 23
January 1949--24 August 2008

IN PROGR ESS: Alfred Russel Wallace's KING KONG: the semioptics of Willis
O'Brien

PARTNER IN THE UNIVERSE TO: FALINE PICKERING, MY BELOVED QUANTUM AQUARIUS

MEMBER 13853: SOCIETY OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY

One concept c orrupts and confuses the others. I am not speaking of the Evil
whose limited sphere is ethics; I am speaking of the infinite. -- J.L. Borges

You never know what's comin' for you. Queenie in Eric Roth's The curious case of
Benjamin Button

What if G-d didn't say it? -- Bart Ehrman
?

IN PROGRESS: Mutanda Dinosaurologica: in memory of Samuel Paul Welles (9
November 1909--6 August 1997)

IN PROGRESS: Dialects of a synaesthetic heart: poetics for Faline Pickering, 23
January 1949--24 August 2008

IN PROGR ESS: Alfred Russel Wallace's KING KONG: the semioptics of Willis
O'Brien

PARTNER IN THE UNIVERSE TO: FALINE PICKERING, MY BELOVED QUANTUM AQUARIUS

MEMBER 13853: SOCIETY OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY

One concept c orrupts and confuses the others. I am not speaking of the Evil
whose limited sphere is ethics; I am speaking of the infinite. -- J.L. Borges

You never know what's comin' for you. Queenie in Eric Roth's The curious case of
Benjamin Button

What if G-d didn't say it? -- Bart Ehrman

________________________________________________________________________
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