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Topic: Pygostyle

	Pygostyle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Pygostyle refers to a number of the final few caudal vertebrae fused into a single ossification, to which the rectrices attach in birds.
		The earliest known species to have evolved a pygostyle were members of the genus of Confuciusornis.
		Modern birds still develop longer caudal vertebrae in their embryonal state, which later fuse to form a pygostyle.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Pygostyle (133 words)

	Turkey and White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrous) pygostyle \| Science Buzz (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-16)
		A pygostyle is the fused caudal (tail) portion of the vertebral column.
		Pygostyles are present in most groups of birds, though they are generally absent in large ratites (large flightless birds), except for the ostrich (where its presence suggests that ostriches are descended from flying ancestors).
		The fleshy portion of a pygostyle, including the preen gland, on a cooked fowl is a commonly eaten tasty portion popularly referred to by farm families in the past as the "pope's nose".
	ltc.smm.org /buzz/museum/object/2004_06_turkey_pygostyle (288 words)

	Rumplessness
		The accidental rumplessness differed in that all of the pygostyle was absent, and the last two synsacrocaudal vertebrae were missing instead of one or two from the centre.
		As with complete rumplessness, the pygostyle was lacking except for the last two vertebrae, and one or two vertebrae were missing from the centre of the synsacrocaudal vertebrae, Rudimentary oil glands appeared on about 25 percent of this type, and varying numbers of tail feathers (2-17) were usually present.
		Depending on the degree of abnormality of the caudal skeleton, the uropygial gland and tail feathers were either absent or the gland was rudimentary with a reduced number of drooping tail feathers.
	members.shaw.ca /araucana/Erumplessness.htm (954 words)

	Re: Pygostyle (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-16)
		The NG article suggests that the pygostyle may have evolved to support the tail fan for display purposes.
		In fact, if Caudipteryx, which does not have a pygostyle (correct?) is a basal oviraptorian and the form with the pygostyle is a more derived one, this would suggest that the pygostyle (at least in Oviraptoria) is a derived condition that appeared after the evolution of the tail fan.
		I would wonder, in fact, if a pygostyle supporting a tail fan at the end of a more or less flexible tail is of much aerodynamic use, though I can certainly see its usefulness in display.
	dml.cmnh.org /1999Nov/msg00012.html (264 words)

	Brown Egg Blue Egg - Types of Rumpless Chickens
		Pygostyle and free caudal vertebrae commonly fused into a bony knot.
		Some consider the small bony knob on last vertebra homologous with the last two pygostyle vertebrae.
		pygostyle or tailbone - A plate of bone at the posterior end of the vertebral column in most birds.
	www.browneggblueegg.com /Article/Rumplessness.html (1268 words)

	MORPHOLOGICAL AND DIETARY CORRELATES OF CLUTCH SIZE IN NORTH AMERICAN WOODPECKERS
		Pygostyle-disk length.--The pygostyle disk serves as a major point of attachment for the tail musculature (Burt 1930).
		The tail in wood- peckers is used as a prop (Thomson 1964); hence, the pygostyle disk is relatively longer in species that forage by pecking for larvae (Burt 1930).
		Thus, the pygostyle-disk length correlates in- versely with clutch size; that is, species that peck for food have relatively large pygostyle disks and small clutches.
	elibrary.unm.edu /sora/Auk/v104n04/p0757-p0765.html (5078 words)

	ODONTORNITHES - LoveToKnow Article on ODONTORNITHES (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-16)
		The tail is composed of about twelve vertebrae, without a pygostyle.
		Enaliornis of the Cambridge Greensand of England, and Baptornis of the mid-Cretaceous of North America, are probably allied, but imperfectly known.
		Tail composed of five free vertebrae, followed by a rather small pygostyle.
	9.1911encyclopedia.org /O/OD/ODONTORNITHES.htm (755 words)

	DinoData Dinosaurs Nomingia gobiensis N048 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-16)
		The tail is shorter than the presacral column, the last three or four of which are firmly appressed and the distalmost two or three fused, forming the aforementioned pygostyle.
		It is the first known dinosaur with a pygostyle, the structure known so far only in birds, is presented.
		The centra gradually decrease in length, until the last ten before the pygostyle are 60-65% the length of the first.
	www.dinodata.net /Dd/Namelist/Tabn/N048.htm (1433 words)

	Re: Pygostyle (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-16)
		Or are you arguing that Caudipteryx is not basal but represents a derived loss of the pygostyle, which would have been found in genuinely basal members of the group?
		It strikes me that these ought to be answerable questions, and that they bear directly on the question of whether the pygostyle can be used as evidence for or against BCF.
		My own initial view was that, for the reasons I stated, it could not be used for BCF, but of course that does not disprove or discredit BCF- it only implies that the pygostyle was a later development, or perhaps a serise of parallel developments.
	dml.cmnh.org /1999Nov/msg00022.html (284 words)

	DinoData Comments by Mickey Mortimer (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-16)
		The tail is long and six vertebrae are definitely not fused to the pygostyle.
		Although the metatarsals, distal pygostyle and possibly carpometacarpus are fused, nothing else is. The sacrals are unfused and vertebrae are still visible for the first third of the pygostyle.
		A few bones at the extremities are missing in Lingyuanornis (phalanges, distal pygostyle), suggesting either these were restored in Liaoxiornis, or more of the specimen got stuck on the Liaoxiornis side.
	www.dinodata.net /Mortimer/LIAOXIORNIS.htm (2076 words)

	The Racing Pigeon Science Project (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-16)
		The thumb and index finger are pressed against the opposite sides of the dorsal (top) surface of the pygostyle (the tail end of the vertebral column; the fleshy swelling to which the tail feathers are attached).
		If the position of the fingers is correct, by pressing the hands toward each other the vent can be made to appear, not as horizontal slit or as a small round hole, but as a wide opening in which the two ventral fleshy folds of the cloaca are exposed.
		Meanwhile, the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, which have been operating on the dorsal surface of the pygostyle, are slipped around the pygostyle and pressed deeply against the sides of the vent, holding the vent open and the drop of semen where it is easily seen and reached.
	www.racingpigeonsport.com /racingpigeonscienceproject/artif1.htm (3072 words)

	Body Temperatures in Nestling Western Gulls (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-16)
		The length of the body in inches from the tip of the bill to the end of the pygostyle is indicated by the following symbols: clear circles, 5 to 67; half-fl circles, 7 to 87; fl circles, 9 to 107; half-fl triangles, 11 to 12.7/8; fl triangles, 13 to 14.
		The cloacal temperatures of the birds and the air temperatures were measured to the nearest tenth of a degree centigrade with a mercury thermometer.
		Because we had no means of weighing the birds, as an indication of relative age we used a imple linear measurement: tip of bill to end of pygostyle with bird in a prone extended position.
	elibrary.unm.edu /sora/Condor/files/issues/v054n01/p0058-p0060.html (1354 words)

	Science News: Bird fossil reveals history of flight
		Most notable of these characteristics is a bird-like coracoid- a bone in the shoulder that helps translate muscular force into the power stroke of a wing.
		And at the end of the vertebrate column, the fossil has a bone called a pygostyle, which is the skeletal basis of an avian tail.
		Pygostyle (py), part of the tail, is at end of vertebrate column.
	www.findarticles.com /p/articles/mi_m1200/is_n7_v133/ai_6406013 (365 words)

	Feduccia: Science, Volume 267(5198).February 3, 1995.637-638 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-16)
		In modern birds the developmental fusion is from distal to proximal; in opposite birds, it is proximodistal, and the triosseal canal (which accommodates the ligament responsible for the wing's upstroke) is formed by a distinctive bony configuration.
		Except for a long pygostyle (fused caudal vertebrae) instead of a long, reptilian tail, opposite birds closely resemble the late Jurassic Archaeopteryx in the toothed skull and the primitive pelvic region.
		The modern genera of birds appeared by the Miocene, following roughly the same pattern as mammals [13], and it is within the genera that successful molecular comparisons are beginning to produce highly corroborated phylogenies, agreeing with the fossil record.
	taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk /~rdmp1c/teaching/L3/tutorials/feduccia/feduccia.html (1379 words)

	Abstract #10 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-16)
		Mechanisms of tail fanning were evaluated by electromyography in freely flying pigeons and turkeys and by electrical stimulation of caudal muscles in anesthetized birds.
		Results from these experiments reveal that the pygostyle, rectrices, rectricial bulbs and bulbi rectricium musculature form a specialized fanning mechanism.
		Isolation of the bulbs on the pygostyle effectively decouples tail fanning from a fan movement, which is governed by the remaining caudal muscles.
	www.brown.edu /Departments/EEB/Gatesy_abstracts/gatesy.abstract.10.html (246 words)

	Parrot breeder of African Greys, Meyer's and Senegal parrots. Hand fed baby parrots
		The last few coccygeal fuse to form the pygostyle which acts as anchor for the main tail feathers.
		With some fractures or damage to the pygostyle, a male bird may be unable to successfully copulate with a hen.
		The humerus is pneumatized with the clavicular air sac (near the shoulder).
	www.4parrots.com /Basic_Avian_Anatomy.htm (4406 words)

	Aves Translation and Pronunciation Guide
		The synsacrum is fused with 6-8 vertebrae; the pygostyle is long and tapering.
		The tail is long (25 mm), proportionately the longest bony tail known next to Archaeopteryx; the pygostyle is about 3/4 the length of the tail (18 mm), and the 8 sacral vertebrae are not fused.
		The hindlimb and toe bones are relatively long and slender, with only a small hallux, suggesting it spent time on the ground or along the shore rather than perched in trees.
	www.dinosauria.com /dml/names/aves.htm (10086 words)

	Velociraptor a Mesozoic kiwi? A look at the neoflightless hypothesis - EvoWiki (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-16)
		However, this very system is seen in incipient form at the base of Maniraptoriformes, and thus its validity as a character indicative of flighted ancestry must be questioned.
		In the meantime, it seems best to err on the side of caution and regard the pygostyle as a trait as of yet restricted to Aves.
		It is interesting to note that the modifications of the pectoral girdle, and the thoracic region, so stressed by adherents of this neoflightless hypothesis, are accounted for within the context of par-avian respiratory capacity and an ecological shift towards arboreal habitat (Chatterjee 1997).
	wiki.cotch.net /index.php/Velociraptor_a_Mesozoic_kiwi%3F_A_look_at_the_neoflightless_hypothesis (4954 words)

	CWS Talk! - ChristianWebSite.com - View Single Post - tell me one beneficial mutation example - if there is
		Further, Confuciusornis has certain features that are unique to that taxa and definitively intermediate between the Dromaeosauridae (the non-avian taxa leading to modern birds) and other, later, avian forms.
		The existence of teeth, the shape of the brain case and the particular placement of jaw muscles, and most likely the pygostyle as well are plesiomorphic characteristics inherited as ancestral characteristics from earlier non-avian coelurosaurids and avian coelurosaurids (including Archaeopteryx and Confuciusornis).
		However the appearance of certain avian plesiomorphies in Eoalulavis as synapomorphies, including the alula (or 'barstard wing') clearly show this creature to be ancestral to (or at least a sister taxa to) modern aves.
	www.botcw.com /talk/showpost.php?p=122954&postcount=3 (407 words)

	Comparing a Human and Avian Skeleton
		The vertebrae of the bird and human is similar except for the bone where the tail feathers attach, called the pygostyle.
		Humans have a tailbone that is similar, but it is not pictured.
		Color the vertebrae (D) yellow and the pygostyle (Q) purple.
	www.biologycorner.com /worksheets/comparing_avian_human.html (592 words)

	bird - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about bird
		The vertebral column is completed in the tail region by a flat plate known as the pygostyle, which forms a support for the rectrices, or steering tailfeathers.
		The uropygial gland on the pygostyle (bone in the tail) is an oil gland used by birds in preening their feathers, as their skin contains no sebaceous glands.
		The eyes have an upper and a lower eyelid and a semitransparent nictitating membrane with which the bird can cover its eyes at will.
	encyclopedia.farlex.com /bird (1719 words)

	Skeleton of a Typical Bird
		The synsacrum is a fusion of the pelvic and 6 caudal (tail) vertebrae.
		At the end of the spinal column is the pygostyle, a fusion of the final few caudal vertebrae.
		The avian wing contains the usual arm bones of reptiles and mammals, but in a highly modified form.
	fsc.fernbank.edu /Birding/skeleton.htm (602 words)

	2000 / science notes - GeoRpts n29
		Barsbold R, Currie P, Myhrvold N, Osmólska H, Tsogtbaatar K, Watabe M. A pygostyle from a non-avian theropod.
		An upper Cretaceous oviraptorosaur found in the Nemegt Formation from Bugin Tsav in Mongolia has five caudal vertebrae fused to form a pygostyle-like structure very similar to pygostyles found in modern birds.
		(The pygostyle supports the tail feathers in birds.) The researchers believe that such structures are not pathologic and evolved independently in at least three groups of theropods.
	www.grisda.org /georpts/29sci.htm (1026 words)

	A new gruiform from Messel - EvoWiki (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-16)
		There are seven unfused caudals proximal to the pygostyle, and this is the plesiomorphic character state for Gruiformes (Livezey 1998).
		The pygostyle itself matches in general form that of Cariamae, while being distinctly different from the reduced pygostyle of Psophiidae.
		The structure of the coracoid, ever useful in avian phylogenetics, is broadly congruent with that of Psophiidae, although there are distinct differences.
	wiki.cotch.net /index.php/A_new_gruiform_from_Messel (1581 words)

	traveling dinosaur egg exhibits, fossil acquisitions, appraisals, preparation services and equipment, teaching aids
		Further clues indicating dinosaur feathers are found by comparing a tail structure called a pygostyle that is found in both modern birds and bird-like dinosaurs such as oviraptorids.
		The individual tail vertebrae found in early birds such as Archaeopteryx were later fused into a pygostyle, a bone to which cartilage and tail feathers attach.
		Shows 5 individual tail vertebra present in ancient birds that later fused into a pygostyle.
	www.stonecompany.com /dinoeggs/study/detectives/page10.html (313 words)

	Dinosauria Translation and Pronunciation Guide N
		Nomingia is a medium-sized oviraptorosaur known from an incomplete postcranial skeleton (Holotype: GIN 100/119 (Institute of Geology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulan Bator)), including a continuous series of vertebrae (13 presacrals, 5 synsacrals, 24 caudals), complete pelvis, fragmentary thoracic ribs, gastralia, left femur, and both tibiae and fibulae (tibia 24% longer than the femur).
		Its most striking feature is the very short tail ending in a dagger-like pygostyle formed from the fusion of the last 5 vertebrae--the shortest non-avian dinosaur tail (24 vertebrae) known and the first with a pygostyle.
		Nomingia is identified as an oviraptorosaur based on the pneumatized centra of the proximal tail vertebrae, deep hypapophyses on the underside of least 3 anterior dorsal vertebrae, and the posteriorly concave profile of the ischium.
	www.dinosauria.com /dml/names/dinon.htm (2087 words)

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