Flight of the dodo
The evolutionary history of the dodo is very poorly understood. Like many avian island en-demics, a high degree of morphological change associated with flightlessness and gigantism has obscured phylogenetic relationships, and histor-ically the dodo has been linked with avian groups ranging from the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2002
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.559.3194 http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/fileadmin/user_upload/biologie/ag/systematik/download/Publications/Dodo.pdf |
| Summary: | The evolutionary history of the dodo is very poorly understood. Like many avian island en-demics, a high degree of morphological change associated with flightlessness and gigantism has obscured phylogenetic relationships, and histor-ically the dodo has been linked with avian groups ranging from the ratites to the raptors (1). Since the mid-1800s, morphological studies have linked the dodo (initially Didus in-eptus, now Raphus cucullatus) and its presumed close relative the sol-itaire (Pezophaps solitaria) with the Columbiformes (pigeons and doves), but their exact position is |
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