On Sat, May 14, 2005 at 06:21:13PM +1000, Bob Ashford wrote:
> Ive seen various 'bits' about the Lyrebird being the original
> Passerine (I think I have that right) but haven't kept those emails.
There is DNA evidence that the radiation of the oscine passerines began in
Australasia ~60 million years ago and some evidence that lyrebirds are the
(extant) lineage that split earliest in this radiation. This radiation
has produced about half the world's avifauna but not all the passerines.
There are also about 1000 species of suboscine passerines mainly South
American. Pittas are the only Australian suboscines. The NZ Wrens may
be the (extant) lineage that split earliest from other passerines.
But if the above turns out to be true, it doesn't imply the ancestral oscine
passerine looked anything like a Lyrebird. One paper on the DNA
evidence can be found at:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~barke042/pdfs/Barker.et.al04.pdf
Andrew
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