Talk:Presbyornithidae

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Paraphyletic?[edit]

The article right now discusses in several places, including the temporal range section of the taxobox, the possibility that presbyornithids could be paraphyletic with regards to anhimids. This is based on the recent paper on Australian presbyornithds and their similarity to anhimids in their post crania. However, the Wiki article is blowing this possibility way out of proportion, and it was barely implied in the paper, which concludes "Although screamers (Anhimidae) may have evolved from presbyornithid-like birds, the uncertainty as to whether skeletal features shared by presbyornithids and anhimids are plesiomorphic within Anseriformes or indicative of a close relationship between the two cannot yet be resolved. In any case, recognition of W. tedfordi as a presbyornithid calls for a reassessment of the phylogenetic position of Presbyornithidae within Anseriformes." Therefore, i'm removing references to possible paraphyly, though we should keep references to their similarity with screamers (the paper makes it clear that this similarity could be due to plesiomorphy). Dinoguy2 (talk) 11:33, 11 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]