Ornithothoraces
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ornithothoracines Fossil range: Early Cretaceous – Recent |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Daughter clades | ||||||||||||
Ornithothoraces is a clade of birds which includes all enantiornithines and modern birds (Neornithes).
The name Ornithothoraces means "bird thoraxes". This refers to a modern, highly derived, anatomy of the thorax which gave the ornithothoracines superior flight capability compared to more primitive birds. This anatomy includes elongated coracoids, a large, keeled sternum, and modified glenoid joint of the shoulder, along with a semirigid dorsal rib cage.
Chiappe and Calvo (1994)[1] and Chiappe (1996)[2] defined the clade Ornithothoraces as "the common ancestor of Iberomesornis romerali and extant birds, plus all their descendants. This is a node - based definition.
Sereno (1998)[3] defined Ornithothoraces in the same node - based way, but used Sinornis santensis instead of Iberomesornis.
[edit] References
- ^ Chiappe, Luis, Calvo, J.O. (1994) "Nequenornis volans, a new Late Cretaceous bird (Enantiornithes:Avisauridae) from Patagonia, Argentina." "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology" 14:230-246.
- ^ Chiappe, Luis. (1996) "Late Cretaceous birds of southern South America: anatomy and systematics of Enantiornithes and Patagopteryx deferrariisi" pp. 203-244 in G. Arratia (ed.), "Contributions of Southern South America to Vertebrate Paleontology" "Munchner Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, reihe A, Geologieund Palaontologie 30. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich".
- ^ Sereno, Paul(1998)"A rationale for phylogenetic definitions, with application to the higher-level taxonomy of Dinosauria. Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Palaontologie 210:41-83.
