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Palaeognathae

Palaeognathae
Palaeognathae


Current evolutionary consensus, based on both molecular and morphological data, suggests that there are two broad subdivisions at the base of living birds (Neornithes), the neognaths (Neognathae) and palaeognathous birds (Palaeognathae). Palaeognaths are characterised by their primitive skull morphology and a secondarily acquired characteristic – flightlessness. The group, as traditionally defined and still recognised by phylogenetic analyses, includes flightless birds (ostrich, rhea, emu, cassowaries and kiwis) and flighted tinamous. Flightless forms are found today on the former landmasses of Gondwana, Africa, South America and Australia, whereas tinamous are restricted to South America. Traditionally, palaeognaths have been subdivided into ratites (all the large flightless groundbirds) and tinamous, although some data sets suggest that this classification might be overly simplistic: Recent molecular studies have concluded that the South American flighted taxa are nested within the traditional ratite grouping. This is interesting because it means that ratite flightlessness has evolved convergently at least four times.
5pp
John Wiley & Sons
Dyke, Gareth J.
600ca61e-b40b-4c86-b8ae-13be4e331e94
Leonard, Leona
03d19c27-93a3-4607-8edc-827a95a9d93c
Dyke, Gareth J.
600ca61e-b40b-4c86-b8ae-13be4e331e94
Leonard, Leona
03d19c27-93a3-4607-8edc-827a95a9d93c

Dyke, Gareth J. and Leonard, Leona (2012) Palaeognathae. In, Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. Chichester, GB. John Wiley & Sons, 5pp. (doi:10.1002/9780470015902.a0001550.pub3).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract



Current evolutionary consensus, based on both molecular and morphological data, suggests that there are two broad subdivisions at the base of living birds (Neornithes), the neognaths (Neognathae) and palaeognathous birds (Palaeognathae). Palaeognaths are characterised by their primitive skull morphology and a secondarily acquired characteristic – flightlessness. The group, as traditionally defined and still recognised by phylogenetic analyses, includes flightless birds (ostrich, rhea, emu, cassowaries and kiwis) and flighted tinamous. Flightless forms are found today on the former landmasses of Gondwana, Africa, South America and Australia, whereas tinamous are restricted to South America. Traditionally, palaeognaths have been subdivided into ratites (all the large flightless groundbirds) and tinamous, although some data sets suggest that this classification might be overly simplistic: Recent molecular studies have concluded that the South American flighted taxa are nested within the traditional ratite grouping. This is interesting because it means that ratite flightlessness has evolved convergently at least four times.

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Published date: 2012
Organisations: Ocean Biochemistry & Ecosystems

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 345317
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/345317
PURE UUID: 26dcad80-fa18-444a-b240-07358d9f5821

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 16 Nov 2012 12:04
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 12:24

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Contributors

Author: Gareth J. Dyke
Author: Leona Leonard

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