[Taxacom] Gansus fossils overly hyped?

[Ken Kinman]

     Glad to see Clarke got in a plug for her fossil genus Vegavis, but it 
is an Anseriform (neognath).  The common ancestor of all living birds would 
have been more like a paleognath and probably terrestrial (unlike either 
Gansus or Vegavis).

     A better model would be a proto-tinamou (similar to modern tinamous, 
but stronger fliers).  As for fossils, Lithornithidae would be closer than 
either Gansus or Vegavis.
  ----Ken

*********************************
>From: Barry Roth <barry_roth at yahoo.com>
>To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Gansus fossils overly hyped?
>Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 10:58:19 -0700 (PDT)
>
>The San Francisco Chronicle's story on the subject contains 
>counterbalancing views of some other paleontologists:
>
>   
>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/16/MNGKKJFAMQ1.DTL&hw=fossil&sn=001&sc=1000
>
>   Barry Roth
>
>Ken Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com> wrote:
>   Dear All,
>Finally, publication on a fantastic find of nearly complete fossils of
>the Cretaceous bird Gansus. However, to say that this amphibious waterfowl
>is a good model for the ancestor of modern birds is a very risky
>proposition.
>
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