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Recoded Aves eliminates polyphyly
Dear All,
I accept Mickey Mortimer's arguments that Confuciusornithids and
Oviraptorids are closely related. However, I have obviously come to a very
different conclusion how such a clade fits into the avian tree.
It appears that "Enigmosauria" is not even paraphyletic, but
polyphyletic. The many researchers who are getting a holo(mono)phyletic
"enigmosaur" grouping appear to be relying on characters which are subject
to functional convergences (mainly in the vertebrae and jaws).
It is my conclusion that strict parsimony has led them astray, and that
they will not discover more accurate avian phylogenetic topologies without
some form of character weighting (as many of the characters they are using
are non-independent).
My refined (simplified) definition of Aves is now: All theropods
possessing (1) a convex coracoid glenoid, and (2) an enlarged fused
"semilunate" in adults. Note: the first is reversed in at least one genus
(Phasianus), and the distinctive shape of the second is partially reversed
in Protarcheopteryx and Caudipteryx. Like Tom says, reversals happen, but
these appear to be very rare reversals (and thus remain highly diagnostic).
The contents of my classification (see below) remain the same, but I
obviously had to move caenagnathiforms and mononykiforms down below
Archaeopteryidae (and do some recoding). I doubt that Alvarezsaurus will be
put back in (but it is so scrappy, who knows). Many of the character
distributions are beginning to make a whole lot more sense.
------ Cheers, Ken Kinman
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CLASS AVEA (AVES)
1 Plesion Troodontidae
? Pl. Bagaraatan
2 Archaeopterygiformes
1 Dromaeosauridae
B "utahraptorid" family
2 Pl. Pyroraptor
3 Pl. Bambiraptor
B Velociraptoridae
4 Pl. Sinornithosaurus
? Pl. Unenlagia
5 Pl. Microraptor
6 Pl. Rahonavis
7 Archaeopterygidae
8 {{expanded "Metornithes"}}
_1_ Yandangornithiformes
? Pl. Sapeornis
2 Mononykiformes Kinman, 1994
1 Patagonykidae
2 Parvicursoridae
3 Mononykidae
3 Avimimiformes
4 Pl. Protarcheopteryx
5 Pl. Caudipteryx
B Pl. Nomingia
6 Caenagnathiformes Cracraft, 1971
1 Pl. Microvenator
2 Caenagnathidae
3 Oviraptoridae
4 Confuciusornithidae
? Pl. Protopteryx
7 Longipterygiformes
8 Pl. Jibeina
? Pl. Hulsanpes
9 Pl. Boluochia
B Iberomesornithiformes
10 Enantiornithiformes
B Gobipterygiformes
11 Plesion Vorona
12 Patagopterygiformes
? Pl. Yanornis
13 Chaoyangiiformes
14 Pl. Apsaravis
15 Hesperornithiformes
16 Ambiortiformes
17 Ichthyornithiformes
18 Pl. Limenavis
19 Lithornithiformes
20 Tinamiformes
_a_ Struthioniformes
21 Galliformes
B Anseriformes
22 .... other neognath orders
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