Strauch's [3] analysis could not resolve the affinities between the three lineages but reanalyses of the data by Mickevich and Parenti [4], Björklund [5] and Chu [6] identified Alcae as the basal lineage.
The second consists of plover-like birds (representing Charadriidae, Haematopodidae, Recurvirostridae) along with the sheathbill (Chionidae) and thick-knee (Burhinidae).
In comparing 51 measurements from skeletal elements among 93 species of jaegers, skuas, gulls, terns, and skimmers, Schnell concluded that skimmers are most similar to terns, and that the differences between jaegers and gulls are greater than those between gulls and terns.
(1) the Charadriiformes consists of three major groups: (1) the Scolopaci [Scolopacidae, Thinocoridae, Pedionomidae, Rostratulidae, and Jacanidae]; (2) the Charadrii [Charadriidae, Recurvirostridae, Haematopodidae, Burhinidae, and Chionidae]; and (3) the Lari [Laridae, Rynchopidae, Stercorariidae, Alcidae, and Glareolidae].
(5) Haematopodidae and Recurvirostridae are sister families (consistent with our current sequence as well as Sibley and Ahlquist).
(6) Charadriidae is the sister to Haematopodidae + Recurvirostridae (consistent with Sibley and Ahlquist).
Alexander Wetmore - EvoWiki(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)
His systematic research spanned every conceivable avian taxon.
In 1926 he described the first known presbyornithid material, though he attributed it to a sister taxon of Recurvirostridae.
Wetmore single-handedly kept the discipline of paleornithology alive during the bleak years of the "modernist" era in which the subject received little attention, and as such, Wetmore was arguably the foremost expert on the fossil record of Aves in the world, at the time of his death.
Avocet [Recurvirostra americana Links](Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)
Family Recurvirostridae American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana) Body Size: Large Foraging Guild: Aquatic gleaner/sweeper Foraging Habitat: Water depth - dry to 12 cm; vegetative cover - bare to sparse Migration Distance: Short Migration Pattern..
AVOCET American avocet ("Recurvirostra americana") AVOCET, common name for long-legged, web-footed shorebirds of the genus Recurvirostra, family Recurvirostridae (which also contains the stilts), and order Charadriiformes.
American Avocet Recurvirostra americana Bird Order Recurvirostridae Description When bird is at rest the whiteness of the body contrasts with the broad fl stripes along the back and on the folded wings.
Galloanserae: A Critical Examination - EvoWiki(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)
Significant light was shed on the origin of the anserine assemblage, previously an intractable riddle, with the redescription of Presbyornis pervetus Wetmore 1926 following the work of Alan Feduccia, Paul McGrew and Storrs Olson.
That Wetmore recognized similarities to the Recurvirostridae is an elegant testimonial to his perspicacity, and it was this very diagnosis which would lead Feduccia (1976) to hypothesize upon further morphological analysis, a shorebird ancestry for ducks.
Presbyornis was initially interpreted as a flamingo-like wader implicated in the origins of the Phoenicopteridae (e.g., Feduccia and McGrew 1974) though this hypothesis was revised upon the recovery of multiple presbyornithid crania, which are strikingly anserine in appearance, down to a typically duck-like bill.
Stilt - ENCYCLOPEDIA - The History Channel UK(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)
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, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Charadriiformes, family Recurvirostridae.
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