The Katurran Odyssey, as you may agree, is a beutifull book. Created by the Star War designer Terryl Whitlacth and the screenwriter David Michael Wieger, certainly this is a master piece in many aspects. The ilustrations are simply amazing and breath taking; both the landscapes, the seascapes, and above all the characters, are beutifully ilustrated; I specifically enjoyed the bats, birds and pterosaurs flying in a the brightly coloured sky. The main character, Katook the lemur, is as cute as a real lemur (his blue eyes make him very beutifull as well, but still I prefer the brown eyed primates), and Quigga is better than all quagga pictures I've seen; I'm now ashamed for having never seen one alive (no one nowdays can anyway). The sea is beutifully decorated in a scene by beutifull fish, cetaceans and icthyosaurs, and Gamic's spectral appearence strongly reminds me of an aye-aye (oh wait, he's an aye-aye). The bone crushers (if they are hyenas, hyenodonts or mesonychians, I have no idea) and the other predators have that charm only real carnivores have, and the golden monkey city strongly is superior in terms of beuty to even the Indian temples or the mayan pyramids. Indeed, everything is beutifull.
However, everything beutifull has its dark side, and The Katurran Odyssey is no exception. Beneath these layers of magnificience lay sublimal messages that are simply horrible to me, and yet very obvious (otherwise I wouldn't be wasting my time writing this crap). Thats why I actually have to sadly compare this book with a series that I, and many other sane people, hate: The Chronicles of Narnia.
Perhaps the most obvious message this book transmits is religion. The story has a particular character that makes obvious what I'm saying. The Fossah (note: mispelling of the word "Fossa", though the word is spelled somewhat like that, in english obviously [I won't involve portuguese because I know english speakers can't pronounce portuguese words correctly]) is obviously the author's answer to C.S. Lewis Aslan: he seems to be (no, he IS) an alegory for Jesus (and he's a feliforme mammal, thus making the connections even more obvious, though I can't accuse the jerks of copyrighting), or at least of the christian God (whereas Jesus and God are supposed to be one and the same I have no fuckin' idea; thats why I'm not christian, as I don't believe in things that contradict themselves!). After all, he is a supernatural figure who is also supposedly the creator of Katurran's world, and most importantly he was also alongside Katook during the whole story and is worshipped by at least the lemurs. Not to mention the fact that he also has his "angels", the swifts and the butterflies. And a heaven like place.
The problem is not the fact this book promotes religion (in fact, I don't mind to read christian literature as long as there's tolerance towards other beliefs), but it also promotes aspects of religion that are morally dangerous. I hope the authors did this as an accident, otherwise they need to explain me a lot of things.
The first is creationism. There's not a single non-avian dinosaur in the whole movie (which lead a critic to say that they show other "prehistoric stars"; check this book's site), but many other prehistoric animals appear, from the Mesozoic Archeopteryx, icthyosaurs and pterosaurs to the Cenezoic mammoths, terror birds, Osteodontornis (a sea bird), Zeuglodon (a primitive whale) and Thylacosmilus (a saber toothed marsupial), as well as the recently extinct thylacine and quagga. All these creatures are seen side-by-side with modern animals (most of them endangered), so its hard to believe a shade of creationism prommotion is absent. I don't need to say why creationism is bad, and if you don't know just contact me and I'll tell ya.
The other is racism and/or specieism (and religious intolerance; keep readin'). Like in many christian fantasy series (Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter [yep, J.K. Rowling is christian], etc.), the villains belong to a specific specie, instead of having antagonists of the same species of the heros. The golden monkeys are an obvious example, and being endangered as they are it would give them a bad image, thus proving fatal for their conservation. Even more outrageous is having the evil priest Gamic as an aye-aye, already in trouble because of religious practises in Madagascar of killing any aye-aye that appears in front of a person. The fact the golden monkeys worship themselves is also an attack to LaVeyan Satanism, and showing the Koloboos as wise but cold is almost like saying "if you are smart then you are evil!"
Thus, while its a beutifull work of art, it certainly its an imoral book
(Yes, I know I got the title wrong; however, while I left the post's title alone, I corrected the title in the message)
domingo, 4 de janeiro de 2009
sexta-feira, 2 de janeiro de 2009
Opinions on non-Galliforme/Anseriforme Galloanserae
Providing the fact toothed seabirds took most of Spec's seabird niches, I had to change the pseudodontorns from gannet/albatross/pelican analogues into Spec's mergansers. I've also decided to express my opinion on Gastorniformes and on dromornids
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Galloanserae is an old linage of Neornithe birds, which has included, across the history of both worlds, both fowl and waterfowl; both groups are actually on the opposite sides of the cladistic tree, since Galliformes are the most basal and Anseriformes are within a larger clade that also included at least two other groups (though one of these groups might belong within Anseriformes; see below). Both groups are still alive in Spec, though neither developed the spectacular forms present on HE.
One of these groups is Gastorniformes. On HE, they develop spectacular forms such as Gastornis, flightless and huge; their huge bills might had been used to crush their prey, though its not clear if they were carnivores (though its more likely they ate meat than their aussie relatives, the dromornids). On Spec, this clade is alive and well in South America (its interesting to note that, on HE, there was another giant, flightless relative of waterfowl known as Brontornis, though it wasn't a Gastorniforme [unless the features that unite them to Drmornidae and Anseriformes are resulted from parallel evolution]), where they took the niches of Galliformes. They are quite similar to HE's screamers, which are true Anseriformes, and which never evolved in Spec (though their closest relatives, magpie geese, occur in Australasia, and gave rise to the huge flightless "geese" in New Zealand). A similar niche is occupied in Oz by very similar birds, though they might be dromornids; in both landmasses there's arboreal Galliformes as well.
Pseudodontorns are the other group of Galloanseres that got extinct on HE; in Spec, they still exist, though they never developed the albatross like forms that evolved on our timeline. These ncihes were taken by Ichthyorniformes, which took over most seabird niches but those of large diving birds (those are held by Hesperorniformes and penguins). Instead, these actually occupy a somewhat marginal niche, but still interesting to note because they managed to prevent Anseriformes from taking it: that of mergansers. On HE there's at least 4 linages of diving freshwater birds, and Spec has 3. Mergansodontorns have their earliest fossils dating from the Eocene, though its possible their origins extend to the Cretaceous, since Pseudodontorns weren't very specialized at that time
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Galloanserae is an old linage of Neornithe birds, which has included, across the history of both worlds, both fowl and waterfowl; both groups are actually on the opposite sides of the cladistic tree, since Galliformes are the most basal and Anseriformes are within a larger clade that also included at least two other groups (though one of these groups might belong within Anseriformes; see below). Both groups are still alive in Spec, though neither developed the spectacular forms present on HE.
One of these groups is Gastorniformes. On HE, they develop spectacular forms such as Gastornis, flightless and huge; their huge bills might had been used to crush their prey, though its not clear if they were carnivores (though its more likely they ate meat than their aussie relatives, the dromornids). On Spec, this clade is alive and well in South America (its interesting to note that, on HE, there was another giant, flightless relative of waterfowl known as Brontornis, though it wasn't a Gastorniforme [unless the features that unite them to Drmornidae and Anseriformes are resulted from parallel evolution]), where they took the niches of Galliformes. They are quite similar to HE's screamers, which are true Anseriformes, and which never evolved in Spec (though their closest relatives, magpie geese, occur in Australasia, and gave rise to the huge flightless "geese" in New Zealand). A similar niche is occupied in Oz by very similar birds, though they might be dromornids; in both landmasses there's arboreal Galliformes as well.
Pseudodontorns are the other group of Galloanseres that got extinct on HE; in Spec, they still exist, though they never developed the albatross like forms that evolved on our timeline. These ncihes were taken by Ichthyorniformes, which took over most seabird niches but those of large diving birds (those are held by Hesperorniformes and penguins). Instead, these actually occupy a somewhat marginal niche, but still interesting to note because they managed to prevent Anseriformes from taking it: that of mergansers. On HE there's at least 4 linages of diving freshwater birds, and Spec has 3. Mergansodontorns have their earliest fossils dating from the Eocene, though its possible their origins extend to the Cretaceous, since Pseudodontorns weren't very specialized at that time
domingo, 7 de dezembro de 2008
Pseudodontorns
At last...
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Euornithes, as a whole, have been masters at colonising the seabird niches; since the Cretaceous there's basal toothed seabirds like the ichthyorniformes and the hesperorniformes, and both groups are still very common on Spec, having taken the niches of seagulls, terns, skimmers, auks, flamingoes, vultures (a linage of ichthyorniformes abandoned the sea and became scavengers), cormorants, darters and penguins (in the northern hemisphere obviously). Neornithes also produced their own handfull of seabird species; petrels and tropicbirds cruise Spec's skies, shorebird like paleognaths gather in the coast lines, and penguins rule supreme over the southern oceans. However, there's another linage of seabirds that occur in Spec, and which gave rise to the biggest flying birds [aside from the rocs?] that occur in this world.
Perhaps interesting to note is the fact that there's no gannets nor pelicans in Spec, and its albatrosses are reduced to a few species from the south, often refered as "p-Phobetria". Instead, the pseudodontorns, or "false-toothed birds", rule over the large seabird niches.
Pseudodontorns, unlike most marine neornithes, do not belong the "waterbird clade", nor are they p-Charadriiformes (which too never evolved on Spec), but rather they are actually relatives of waterfowl and fowl, and thus they must have diverged from them already in the Cretaceous, when Galloanserae was already well defined. At this time, the ornithocheiroid pterosaurs ruled over large "seabird" niches, but towards the Eocene most of them disappeared, with modern species living as relics here and there. This left a vacuum to be filled, and ichthyorniforme seabirds took advantage, giving rise to big forms; however, towards the Miocene, they started to decline, and so pseudodontorns occupied the niche.
As the name suggests, these birds don't have true teeth (lost forever by the first neornithes, though genetic manipulation does cause pseudodontorns to grow actual teeth), but teeth-like serrations in the bill, which are used to grab prey like ammonites, small/baby baleen squids and fish. Pseudodontorns, like most seabirds (and unlike Anseriformes and Galliformes), have nidiculous chicks, which need parental care for a shorter period of time than other seabirds, up to a month and a half in the bigger species.
Pelagornithidae
The "typical" pseudodontorns, they are mostly gannet, booby and albatross like forms
North Atlantic Grannet (Odontomorus bassanus)
Grannet colonies are a typical sight in the North Atlantic. Fairly larger than their HE analogues, they have wingspans of up to 3 meters; some individuals are reported to reach wingspans of up to 3.7 meters. One of the largest flying seabirds of the northern hemishere, they dive in the manner of HE's gannets, and then swim after their prey underwater like them; in fact, Ondontomorus is the pseudodontorn genus with the shorter and stronger wings. Its still a good fliers though, spending most of its time soaring above the sea in the manner of other pseudodontorns. Unlike HE's gannets, Spec's grannets are slightly more diverse, with three Pacific species in addition to the two Atlantic ones.
Spectacled Hobbie (Adamastosula pelagica)
A quite common specie of hobbie, this bird occurs in the Pacific ocean (sometimes, its range overlaps with the Northen Pacific Grannet, Odontomorus sednai), with breeding colonies in islands such as the Galapagos and Hawaii (it shares its range with more restricted hobbie species, like the Galapagos Hobbie, Adamastosula darwinensis, and the Aloha Hobbie, Adamastosula maui). Its name is derived from the white markings around its eyes (its head is black), which roughly resemble glasses. This bird, a typical sized hobbie (roughly the same size of a grannet, though with a longer wingspan, up to 4 meters) is, as the name suggests, more pelagic than its relatives, which allows it to have a larger distribution across the Pacific. Like all hobbies, its dives from the air in order to capture its prey.
Azorian Lollymawk (Pelagoptera callisto)
A common sight in the Atlantic ocean, this middle sized pseudodontorn (with a wingspan of 4.5-5.3 meters) is a typical "albatross-like" pelagornithid, soaring above the waves feeding on fish and cephalopods from the water surface, rather than diving. It also feeds on the carcasses of dead balleen squids, walducks or mosarks; being the largest seabird on the North Atlantic, it has no problems driving off smaller scavengers.
Wandering Pseudotross (Odontodiomedea exulans)
The largest living flying bird, this creature's wingspan rivals with that of Pteranodon, reaching 8 meters in length. Basically a monstrously huge version of HE's wandering albatross, this magnificient bird is as tall as a man, so most specsplorers don't dare to come very close to their nesting sites in the Austral ocean islands; Kerguelen, in particular, is a well known site. They occur in the southern seas, but occasional speciemens have been reported as north as the Galapagos. Like most pelagornithids, these birds form "life-long" bounds, though they can "divorce" if they fail to have healthy chicks too many times.
Njordornidae
The "odd pseudodontorns", they consist of two genera (plus some fossil ones, which closely resemble modern forms) that took over the pelican and skua niches. Unlike pelagornithids, these birds, which are more coastoal, have broader wings like those of avisaurs and rocs, as they use thermals to fly, rather than just oceanic winds.
Aussie Pelitooth (Ododontopelicanus antipoda)
The pelicans of Spec, pelitooths only have tooth like serrations in the upper jaw, while the lower one has the obvious pouch used to catch and carry the prey. While occuring in the same areas as HE's australian pelican, the aussie pelitooth actually resembles more HE's brown pelican, though obviously larger, with a wingspan of about 4 meters. Pelitooths, unlike pelagornithids, don't form permanent male/female couples; they usually chase after females in male/male couples, like HE's pelicans. Though, unlike them, both males raise the chicks, and so the female can mate with other males and thus have a higher chance of her genes to be transmitted to the next generation.
Hākoakoa (Njordornis australis)
With a wingspan of 3 meters, this bird is Spec's Brown Skua, occuring in Antartic and Sub-Antartic environments. Its beak serrations and size make few penguins safe; only the very big teals, and the deadly penguins of death, can safely ignore this aerial killers (the latter, though, have a taste for hākoakoan flesh). Like pelagornids, they form monogamous pairs, though they usually only last a season.
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Euornithes, as a whole, have been masters at colonising the seabird niches; since the Cretaceous there's basal toothed seabirds like the ichthyorniformes and the hesperorniformes, and both groups are still very common on Spec, having taken the niches of seagulls, terns, skimmers, auks, flamingoes, vultures (a linage of ichthyorniformes abandoned the sea and became scavengers), cormorants, darters and penguins (in the northern hemisphere obviously). Neornithes also produced their own handfull of seabird species; petrels and tropicbirds cruise Spec's skies, shorebird like paleognaths gather in the coast lines, and penguins rule supreme over the southern oceans. However, there's another linage of seabirds that occur in Spec, and which gave rise to the biggest flying birds [aside from the rocs?] that occur in this world.
Perhaps interesting to note is the fact that there's no gannets nor pelicans in Spec, and its albatrosses are reduced to a few species from the south, often refered as "p-Phobetria". Instead, the pseudodontorns, or "false-toothed birds", rule over the large seabird niches.
Pseudodontorns, unlike most marine neornithes, do not belong the "waterbird clade", nor are they p-Charadriiformes (which too never evolved on Spec), but rather they are actually relatives of waterfowl and fowl, and thus they must have diverged from them already in the Cretaceous, when Galloanserae was already well defined. At this time, the ornithocheiroid pterosaurs ruled over large "seabird" niches, but towards the Eocene most of them disappeared, with modern species living as relics here and there. This left a vacuum to be filled, and ichthyorniforme seabirds took advantage, giving rise to big forms; however, towards the Miocene, they started to decline, and so pseudodontorns occupied the niche.
As the name suggests, these birds don't have true teeth (lost forever by the first neornithes, though genetic manipulation does cause pseudodontorns to grow actual teeth), but teeth-like serrations in the bill, which are used to grab prey like ammonites, small/baby baleen squids and fish. Pseudodontorns, like most seabirds (and unlike Anseriformes and Galliformes), have nidiculous chicks, which need parental care for a shorter period of time than other seabirds, up to a month and a half in the bigger species.
Pelagornithidae
The "typical" pseudodontorns, they are mostly gannet, booby and albatross like forms
North Atlantic Grannet (Odontomorus bassanus)
Grannet colonies are a typical sight in the North Atlantic. Fairly larger than their HE analogues, they have wingspans of up to 3 meters; some individuals are reported to reach wingspans of up to 3.7 meters. One of the largest flying seabirds of the northern hemishere, they dive in the manner of HE's gannets, and then swim after their prey underwater like them; in fact, Ondontomorus is the pseudodontorn genus with the shorter and stronger wings. Its still a good fliers though, spending most of its time soaring above the sea in the manner of other pseudodontorns. Unlike HE's gannets, Spec's grannets are slightly more diverse, with three Pacific species in addition to the two Atlantic ones.
Spectacled Hobbie (Adamastosula pelagica)
A quite common specie of hobbie, this bird occurs in the Pacific ocean (sometimes, its range overlaps with the Northen Pacific Grannet, Odontomorus sednai), with breeding colonies in islands such as the Galapagos and Hawaii (it shares its range with more restricted hobbie species, like the Galapagos Hobbie, Adamastosula darwinensis, and the Aloha Hobbie, Adamastosula maui). Its name is derived from the white markings around its eyes (its head is black), which roughly resemble glasses. This bird, a typical sized hobbie (roughly the same size of a grannet, though with a longer wingspan, up to 4 meters) is, as the name suggests, more pelagic than its relatives, which allows it to have a larger distribution across the Pacific. Like all hobbies, its dives from the air in order to capture its prey.
Azorian Lollymawk (Pelagoptera callisto)
A common sight in the Atlantic ocean, this middle sized pseudodontorn (with a wingspan of 4.5-5.3 meters) is a typical "albatross-like" pelagornithid, soaring above the waves feeding on fish and cephalopods from the water surface, rather than diving. It also feeds on the carcasses of dead balleen squids, walducks or mosarks; being the largest seabird on the North Atlantic, it has no problems driving off smaller scavengers.
Wandering Pseudotross (Odontodiomedea exulans)
The largest living flying bird, this creature's wingspan rivals with that of Pteranodon, reaching 8 meters in length. Basically a monstrously huge version of HE's wandering albatross, this magnificient bird is as tall as a man, so most specsplorers don't dare to come very close to their nesting sites in the Austral ocean islands; Kerguelen, in particular, is a well known site. They occur in the southern seas, but occasional speciemens have been reported as north as the Galapagos. Like most pelagornithids, these birds form "life-long" bounds, though they can "divorce" if they fail to have healthy chicks too many times.
Njordornidae
The "odd pseudodontorns", they consist of two genera (plus some fossil ones, which closely resemble modern forms) that took over the pelican and skua niches. Unlike pelagornithids, these birds, which are more coastoal, have broader wings like those of avisaurs and rocs, as they use thermals to fly, rather than just oceanic winds.
Aussie Pelitooth (Ododontopelicanus antipoda)
The pelicans of Spec, pelitooths only have tooth like serrations in the upper jaw, while the lower one has the obvious pouch used to catch and carry the prey. While occuring in the same areas as HE's australian pelican, the aussie pelitooth actually resembles more HE's brown pelican, though obviously larger, with a wingspan of about 4 meters. Pelitooths, unlike pelagornithids, don't form permanent male/female couples; they usually chase after females in male/male couples, like HE's pelicans. Though, unlike them, both males raise the chicks, and so the female can mate with other males and thus have a higher chance of her genes to be transmitted to the next generation.
Hākoakoa (Njordornis australis)
With a wingspan of 3 meters, this bird is Spec's Brown Skua, occuring in Antartic and Sub-Antartic environments. Its beak serrations and size make few penguins safe; only the very big teals, and the deadly penguins of death, can safely ignore this aerial killers (the latter, though, have a taste for hākoakoan flesh). Like pelagornids, they form monogamous pairs, though they usually only last a season.
quarta-feira, 3 de dezembro de 2008
Extinct Xenornithes
This a [horrible] essay about extinct xenornithes.
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Modern xenornithes are all classified in two orders: Xenorniformes (bunglebirds and nerds-of-paradise), and Pithecaviformes (carpos and paradise carpos). The origins of this group seem to steam from early Cretaceous †Confuciusornidae, which are very similar to modern bunglebirds; for about 65 million years, however, there was a huge gap in Xenornithe fossil record, though at least two jaws from the Maastrichian and some fragmentary remains from the Paleocene might belong to early Xenornithes. What is clear, though, is that violently reappear in the Eocene; in a space of merely 50,000 years, the Xenornithe fossil record passes from a few near fragmentary remains to thousands of nearly complete (and complete) skeletons; Messel was the site that revealed the larger quantity of Xenornithes so far. Because of the large diversity of Eocene Xenornithes, it very often assumed that the forerunners of the known clades made their first appearence in the late Cretaceous or at least in the Paleocene, but right after the thermal maximum there was literally an explosion on these birds' diversity. Such event is blamed on the effects of the thermal maximum: the expansion of the tropical rainforests, as well as a decline in Enantiornithe diversity (all post-Cretaceous opposite-birds trace their origin to merely 6 different ancestors from the Maastrichian; probably 5 or even 4, if the tweetie birds and specworld finches and parrots turn out as sister taxa, or if that such thing happens with ebergs and euavisaurs, which seem to have diverged from a single seagull/shorebird like ancestor) seemed to have been responsible for the "Eocene Explosion".
Modern Xenornithes, as obvious, made their first appearence in this epoch; the earliest bunglebird, †Eoxenavis, was already present, and the distinction between carpos and paradise carpos had already been made at the Eocene. Some extinct Xenornithes were indeed very closely related to modern carpos.
"Confuciusorniformes"
Many of the Eocene's Xenornithes are very similar to the Cretaceous Confuciusornids. Many Eocene "Confuciusornids" are often mistaken for early bunglebirds, and might in fact belong to Xenorniformes. Such genera include Aristotelornis, Awen and Messelavis.
Thanatiformes
Perhaps the most notable of Spec's Xenornithes, dead or alive, these birds are classified in two families, Thanatids and Tyrannavids. As the crown genus' name, Thanatos (literally "death" in latin), suggests, these birds are assumed to be predatory: their feet strongly resemble those of euavisaurs and those of HE's Falconiformes and Acciptriformes, and they also possess hooked beaks, sometimes with teeth-like serrations akin to those of HE's falcons. Because of their ear asymmetry, they are thought to had been nocturnal, leaving the diurnal predator niches to the first euavisaurs. Their disappearence is consistent with the disappearence of the global forests and the appearence of the first scowls, all in the beginning of the Neogene.
Thanatos
Known mainly from Europe and North America sites, some other thanatid taxa might be synonymous with it. It life, this falcon sized bird would had resembled HE's strigid owls (only with wing claws and a non-zydactyl feet), though more accurate reconstructions depict it with the facial disc of feathers in the head, which Thanatiformes appearently lacked. It has also well defined canine-like serrations on the beak. Three species are known, though only T. adamaste has been well described.
Xenotyto
A close relative of Thanatos, this bird is known mainly from North America and Europe, with fossils in South America as well. It has longer legs than its european relative, probably hinting towards a cursorial lifestyle akin to that of HE's borrowing owls, though it was more likely like HE's barn owls.
Falcostrigyx
Possibly a synonym of Thanatos, it is mainly known from Mongolia. It is almost identical to its european relative, though it lacks the canine-like serrations. Some yet to be described australian forms might belong to this genus, if it is valid.
Enantiophagus
Known exclusively from South America, it differs from other thanatids in the way it might have had a feathered facial disc like HE's owls and Spec's jungle demon. Its name (literally "opposite eater") is a refference to fossiliazed baby enantiornithes (appearently early specworld finches) found in one specimen's stomach; presumably it died before regurgitating the prey's bones in a pellet, as other thanatiformes are known to had done (we have fossil pellets).
Tyrannavis piscivora
The single specie of a single genus of a single family (all other thanatiformes belong to Thanatidae), this bird differs from its closest relatives due to the absence of the typical ear asymmetry (which suggests that it might had been diurnal), and due to its longer, more powerfull beak; in life, it would had been like a HE's osprey with wing claws. It seems to had been a fish eater, as fish scales were found on its stomach.
Enarorniformes
This clade only includes, as far as it is known, only two genera: Enarornis and Pekkalavis. The first fossil uncovered (a metatarsus) came from Finland ("Enare" means lake in sweedish, and this very first fossil was found roughly 2 miles south of lake Inari), though since then more complete remains came from other parts of Eurasia and North America. Both species are turkey sized (Pekkalavis mainly differs from having a hooked beak and a smaller hallux digit in the feet), have big, round wings, and gastroliths in the stomach; it has therefore been asumed that they occupied a niche roughly similar to the Early Cretaceous Omnivoropteryx and Sapeornis (which are unrelated to Xenornithes), as soaring omnivores.
Pithecaviformes
While obviously not extinct, carpos have some extinct relatives.
Germanocarpo
A crow sized Pithecaviforme from Europe, this bird resembles the earliest known carpo, Paleocarpo, though it is still capable of flight; however, it is phylogenetically the most basal known Pithecaviforme (and perhaps the oldest, since fragmentary remains from the late Paleocene might belong to this genus; certainly, the possible xenorthitian owners of the parrot like jaws from the late Cretaceous are related to it). Because it already had a quite parrot like beak, it seems that the less powerfull beak of the paradise carpos isn't an ancestral characteristic of this clade.
Hesperoxenornis
Probably a synonym of Germanocarpo. Known from the Americas.
Parsidiocarpopteryx
An early genus of paradise carpos, appearently still able to fly (though modern paradise carpos might had lost their ability to fly multiple times, as opposed to the true carpos, already flightless in the Eocene); fossils occur in Eurasia and North Africa, thus showing that paradise carpos weren't always restricted to Africa (some undescribed fossils also came from South America).
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Modern xenornithes are all classified in two orders: Xenorniformes (bunglebirds and nerds-of-paradise), and Pithecaviformes (carpos and paradise carpos). The origins of this group seem to steam from early Cretaceous †Confuciusornidae, which are very similar to modern bunglebirds; for about 65 million years, however, there was a huge gap in Xenornithe fossil record, though at least two jaws from the Maastrichian and some fragmentary remains from the Paleocene might belong to early Xenornithes. What is clear, though, is that violently reappear in the Eocene; in a space of merely 50,000 years, the Xenornithe fossil record passes from a few near fragmentary remains to thousands of nearly complete (and complete) skeletons; Messel was the site that revealed the larger quantity of Xenornithes so far. Because of the large diversity of Eocene Xenornithes, it very often assumed that the forerunners of the known clades made their first appearence in the late Cretaceous or at least in the Paleocene, but right after the thermal maximum there was literally an explosion on these birds' diversity. Such event is blamed on the effects of the thermal maximum: the expansion of the tropical rainforests, as well as a decline in Enantiornithe diversity (all post-Cretaceous opposite-birds trace their origin to merely 6 different ancestors from the Maastrichian; probably 5 or even 4, if the tweetie birds and specworld finches and parrots turn out as sister taxa, or if that such thing happens with ebergs and euavisaurs, which seem to have diverged from a single seagull/shorebird like ancestor) seemed to have been responsible for the "Eocene Explosion".
Modern Xenornithes, as obvious, made their first appearence in this epoch; the earliest bunglebird, †Eoxenavis, was already present, and the distinction between carpos and paradise carpos had already been made at the Eocene. Some extinct Xenornithes were indeed very closely related to modern carpos.
"Confuciusorniformes"
Many of the Eocene's Xenornithes are very similar to the Cretaceous Confuciusornids. Many Eocene "Confuciusornids" are often mistaken for early bunglebirds, and might in fact belong to Xenorniformes. Such genera include Aristotelornis, Awen and Messelavis.
Thanatiformes
Perhaps the most notable of Spec's Xenornithes, dead or alive, these birds are classified in two families, Thanatids and Tyrannavids. As the crown genus' name, Thanatos (literally "death" in latin), suggests, these birds are assumed to be predatory: their feet strongly resemble those of euavisaurs and those of HE's Falconiformes and Acciptriformes, and they also possess hooked beaks, sometimes with teeth-like serrations akin to those of HE's falcons. Because of their ear asymmetry, they are thought to had been nocturnal, leaving the diurnal predator niches to the first euavisaurs. Their disappearence is consistent with the disappearence of the global forests and the appearence of the first scowls, all in the beginning of the Neogene.
Thanatos
Known mainly from Europe and North America sites, some other thanatid taxa might be synonymous with it. It life, this falcon sized bird would had resembled HE's strigid owls (only with wing claws and a non-zydactyl feet), though more accurate reconstructions depict it with the facial disc of feathers in the head, which Thanatiformes appearently lacked. It has also well defined canine-like serrations on the beak. Three species are known, though only T. adamaste has been well described.
Xenotyto
A close relative of Thanatos, this bird is known mainly from North America and Europe, with fossils in South America as well. It has longer legs than its european relative, probably hinting towards a cursorial lifestyle akin to that of HE's borrowing owls, though it was more likely like HE's barn owls.
Falcostrigyx
Possibly a synonym of Thanatos, it is mainly known from Mongolia. It is almost identical to its european relative, though it lacks the canine-like serrations. Some yet to be described australian forms might belong to this genus, if it is valid.
Enantiophagus
Known exclusively from South America, it differs from other thanatids in the way it might have had a feathered facial disc like HE's owls and Spec's jungle demon. Its name (literally "opposite eater") is a refference to fossiliazed baby enantiornithes (appearently early specworld finches) found in one specimen's stomach; presumably it died before regurgitating the prey's bones in a pellet, as other thanatiformes are known to had done (we have fossil pellets).
Tyrannavis piscivora
The single specie of a single genus of a single family (all other thanatiformes belong to Thanatidae), this bird differs from its closest relatives due to the absence of the typical ear asymmetry (which suggests that it might had been diurnal), and due to its longer, more powerfull beak; in life, it would had been like a HE's osprey with wing claws. It seems to had been a fish eater, as fish scales were found on its stomach.
Enarorniformes
This clade only includes, as far as it is known, only two genera: Enarornis and Pekkalavis. The first fossil uncovered (a metatarsus) came from Finland ("Enare" means lake in sweedish, and this very first fossil was found roughly 2 miles south of lake Inari), though since then more complete remains came from other parts of Eurasia and North America. Both species are turkey sized (Pekkalavis mainly differs from having a hooked beak and a smaller hallux digit in the feet), have big, round wings, and gastroliths in the stomach; it has therefore been asumed that they occupied a niche roughly similar to the Early Cretaceous Omnivoropteryx and Sapeornis (which are unrelated to Xenornithes), as soaring omnivores.
Pithecaviformes
While obviously not extinct, carpos have some extinct relatives.
Germanocarpo
A crow sized Pithecaviforme from Europe, this bird resembles the earliest known carpo, Paleocarpo, though it is still capable of flight; however, it is phylogenetically the most basal known Pithecaviforme (and perhaps the oldest, since fragmentary remains from the late Paleocene might belong to this genus; certainly, the possible xenorthitian owners of the parrot like jaws from the late Cretaceous are related to it). Because it already had a quite parrot like beak, it seems that the less powerfull beak of the paradise carpos isn't an ancestral characteristic of this clade.
Hesperoxenornis
Probably a synonym of Germanocarpo. Known from the Americas.
Parsidiocarpopteryx
An early genus of paradise carpos, appearently still able to fly (though modern paradise carpos might had lost their ability to fly multiple times, as opposed to the true carpos, already flightless in the Eocene); fossils occur in Eurasia and North Africa, thus showing that paradise carpos weren't always restricted to Africa (some undescribed fossils also came from South America).
sábado, 29 de novembro de 2008
Pterosaurs for Spec (part 2)
Part 1 is in my old blog
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Demon Terrorsaur (Deinoapterosaurus robusta)
When the first sightings of this poorly understood beast occured, it was belived to be an aberrant carnocursorid that somehow got stuck on Sulawesi. However, when the first actual specimen was shot...er, "collected", specologists saw not a flightless azhdarchid, but something completly different and more interesting. Unlike the other flightless predatory pterosaurs, which are elegant, cursorial beasts with a hooked but toothless beaks, the demon terrorsaur truly deserves its name: it has a long snout armed with long, stabbing teeth; it is also ill suited for long term runnings, and as such it is an ambush predator, with short but powerfull legs that end in long clawed toes. With the size of a lion, it feeds on the several ornithopod species that live on its range, but doesn't hesitate to rip an explorer apart.
Its exact evolutionary relationships are unknown; genetic data seem to suggest that it diverged from other pterodactyloids in the late Jurassic, and it might be related to the ornithocheiroids. Fossils of appearent relatives of this creature showed up in Riversleigh; these possible ancestors are already suited for a terrestrial lifestyle, but still capable of flight. Nowdays, the wing finger was turned into a spur; its exact function is unknown.
Azdarchoidea
The most diverse clade of living pterodactyloids, it includes the azhdarchids, the carnocursorids and one oddball species.
Tezcatlipoca (Aztecoptera sauroselenidera)
A close relative of azhdarchids, this pterosaur resembles the tapejarids, specially Sinopterus from Cretaceous China. It occupies a similar niche to that of the african and asian olitiaus, soaring above the canopy in search of fruits; its size, though small for a pterosaur (4 meter wingspan), its still to big for it to venture into the denser lower layers of the forest, leaving them to frugivore birds; exceptions occur, of course, in clearings on the forest, usually produced by pachamacs. Juveniles are mainly invertebrate eaters, and adults sometimes do kill birds and specworld bats.
Azhdarchidae
A somewhat paraphyletic family, it was already present in the Cretaceous as forms like Quetzalcoatlus; by the Paleocene, they developed frugivore forms, and by the Oligocene, some returned to their grassland niches.
Fell Beast (Tolkienopteryx giganteus)
This pterosaur, the biggest modern flying one (as big as Quetzalcoatlus), occurs in the Americas. Big and with a bald head, the adults occupy a niche akin to that of HE's now extinct teratorns, feeding on both carrion and small animals. Juveniles often fly around adults, attacking viciously, alongside mistriders, swoops and juvenile avisaurs, the insects scared by the bigger pterosaurs.
Toth (Threskiosaurus theornis)
Ocurring in Eurasia, Madagascar and Africa, this pterosaur is brightly coloured; its pink fur colour probably derives from aquatic molluscs that consist up to 30% of its diet; this pterosaur prefers wetter environments than other azhdarchids. The juveniles of this specie, avid insect eaters, rest in huge flocks in the river banks, like HE's bee-catchers.
Australian Batard (Neoazhdarcho ophidophagus)
Living in Australia and New Guinea, occuring as a vagrant in New Caledonia and New Zealand, this pterosaur doesn't seem to be particularly closely related to the flightless pterosaurs that live in this area; it seems to have arrived from Asia in the Pliocene. As its scientific name suggests, it is quite notorious for attacking snakes, in a style akin to the St. George's Skreet and HE's secretary bird, by kicking the lepidosaur with its clawed feet.
Roc (Roc terriblis)
Occuring all over Eurasia and Africa, this is the pterosaur analogue to HE's vultures and to Spec's harpies and vulgures. It has a powerfull hooked beak like that of carnocursorids, though it evolved independently.
Dudu (Apterazdarcho neocaledonensis)
This flightless pterosaur resembles the flying azhdarchids, except that it lost the wing membranes (aside from a small flap of skin supported by the reduced wing finger, which replaced the now absent head crest as the main display organ). Incapable of flying, this creature literally eats everything that its beak allows, from small insects and lizards to fruit, carrion and even rath eggs; it occupies a niche roughly similar to that of a vulgure or a gluck. As soon as they born the flaplings climb to the trees like komodo dragons do in our world, in order to avoid the ravenous apetite of the adults; they are able to glide, as the wing membrane at this life stage is still quite big; only as they grow it becomes smaller, thus allowing them to have a fully terrestrial lifestyle.
Carnocursoridae
In the Oligocene/Miocene boundary, Australia has lost all of its vertebrates larger than a dog. Such mass extinction seems to had been caused by an asteroid, though there is evidence of a long term decline of Australia's theropods before the extraterrestrial blow; in fact, right before the collision, the remaining theropods were all maniraptors (I'll later write an essay about that). In any case, Australia was devoid of predators by the Miocene; the only remaining theropods, alvarezsaurids, were too specialized into eating insects like ants and termites. Afterwards, cedunosaurs came from Asia, but it was already after Australia gained its new top predators, the first to challenge the theropod supremacy since the Triassic (if we ignore the large land crocs that evolved in the mean time). One of this groups steamed from ornithopoda: the saber-toothed rhyncoraptors. The other was derived from the azhdarchids that recolonised Australia after the bolide, which gave rise to the carnocursorids, or "terrorsaurs" (though unrelated to the already mentioned Jungle Terrosaur). In order to full fill this niche, they completly lost their wings, while their beaks became hooked like that of the roc. Historically they developed omniviorous forms akin to HE's dromornids and Spec's gobblers, though modern species are all carnivores.
(I think I'll leave individual species for you guys to decide)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Demon Terrorsaur (Deinoapterosaurus robusta)
When the first sightings of this poorly understood beast occured, it was belived to be an aberrant carnocursorid that somehow got stuck on Sulawesi. However, when the first actual specimen was shot...er, "collected", specologists saw not a flightless azhdarchid, but something completly different and more interesting. Unlike the other flightless predatory pterosaurs, which are elegant, cursorial beasts with a hooked but toothless beaks, the demon terrorsaur truly deserves its name: it has a long snout armed with long, stabbing teeth; it is also ill suited for long term runnings, and as such it is an ambush predator, with short but powerfull legs that end in long clawed toes. With the size of a lion, it feeds on the several ornithopod species that live on its range, but doesn't hesitate to rip an explorer apart.
Its exact evolutionary relationships are unknown; genetic data seem to suggest that it diverged from other pterodactyloids in the late Jurassic, and it might be related to the ornithocheiroids. Fossils of appearent relatives of this creature showed up in Riversleigh; these possible ancestors are already suited for a terrestrial lifestyle, but still capable of flight. Nowdays, the wing finger was turned into a spur; its exact function is unknown.
Azdarchoidea
The most diverse clade of living pterodactyloids, it includes the azhdarchids, the carnocursorids and one oddball species.
Tezcatlipoca (Aztecoptera sauroselenidera)
A close relative of azhdarchids, this pterosaur resembles the tapejarids, specially Sinopterus from Cretaceous China. It occupies a similar niche to that of the african and asian olitiaus, soaring above the canopy in search of fruits; its size, though small for a pterosaur (4 meter wingspan), its still to big for it to venture into the denser lower layers of the forest, leaving them to frugivore birds; exceptions occur, of course, in clearings on the forest, usually produced by pachamacs. Juveniles are mainly invertebrate eaters, and adults sometimes do kill birds and specworld bats.
Azhdarchidae
A somewhat paraphyletic family, it was already present in the Cretaceous as forms like Quetzalcoatlus; by the Paleocene, they developed frugivore forms, and by the Oligocene, some returned to their grassland niches.
Fell Beast (Tolkienopteryx giganteus)
This pterosaur, the biggest modern flying one (as big as Quetzalcoatlus), occurs in the Americas. Big and with a bald head, the adults occupy a niche akin to that of HE's now extinct teratorns, feeding on both carrion and small animals. Juveniles often fly around adults, attacking viciously, alongside mistriders, swoops and juvenile avisaurs, the insects scared by the bigger pterosaurs.
Toth (Threskiosaurus theornis)
Ocurring in Eurasia, Madagascar and Africa, this pterosaur is brightly coloured; its pink fur colour probably derives from aquatic molluscs that consist up to 30% of its diet; this pterosaur prefers wetter environments than other azhdarchids. The juveniles of this specie, avid insect eaters, rest in huge flocks in the river banks, like HE's bee-catchers.
Australian Batard (Neoazhdarcho ophidophagus)
Living in Australia and New Guinea, occuring as a vagrant in New Caledonia and New Zealand, this pterosaur doesn't seem to be particularly closely related to the flightless pterosaurs that live in this area; it seems to have arrived from Asia in the Pliocene. As its scientific name suggests, it is quite notorious for attacking snakes, in a style akin to the St. George's Skreet and HE's secretary bird, by kicking the lepidosaur with its clawed feet.
Roc (Roc terriblis)
Occuring all over Eurasia and Africa, this is the pterosaur analogue to HE's vultures and to Spec's harpies and vulgures. It has a powerfull hooked beak like that of carnocursorids, though it evolved independently.
Dudu (Apterazdarcho neocaledonensis)
This flightless pterosaur resembles the flying azhdarchids, except that it lost the wing membranes (aside from a small flap of skin supported by the reduced wing finger, which replaced the now absent head crest as the main display organ). Incapable of flying, this creature literally eats everything that its beak allows, from small insects and lizards to fruit, carrion and even rath eggs; it occupies a niche roughly similar to that of a vulgure or a gluck. As soon as they born the flaplings climb to the trees like komodo dragons do in our world, in order to avoid the ravenous apetite of the adults; they are able to glide, as the wing membrane at this life stage is still quite big; only as they grow it becomes smaller, thus allowing them to have a fully terrestrial lifestyle.
Carnocursoridae
In the Oligocene/Miocene boundary, Australia has lost all of its vertebrates larger than a dog. Such mass extinction seems to had been caused by an asteroid, though there is evidence of a long term decline of Australia's theropods before the extraterrestrial blow; in fact, right before the collision, the remaining theropods were all maniraptors (I'll later write an essay about that). In any case, Australia was devoid of predators by the Miocene; the only remaining theropods, alvarezsaurids, were too specialized into eating insects like ants and termites. Afterwards, cedunosaurs came from Asia, but it was already after Australia gained its new top predators, the first to challenge the theropod supremacy since the Triassic (if we ignore the large land crocs that evolved in the mean time). One of this groups steamed from ornithopoda: the saber-toothed rhyncoraptors. The other was derived from the azhdarchids that recolonised Australia after the bolide, which gave rise to the carnocursorids, or "terrorsaurs" (though unrelated to the already mentioned Jungle Terrosaur). In order to full fill this niche, they completly lost their wings, while their beaks became hooked like that of the roc. Historically they developed omniviorous forms akin to HE's dromornids and Spec's gobblers, though modern species are all carnivores.
(I think I'll leave individual species for you guys to decide)
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