Field of Science

Uncinate processes link birds and dinosaurs

I read a lovely paper last night that took to task the findings of an older paper by one of my closest collaborators. I think both papers are very strong papers and I would love to discuss my thoughts on the issue here, but I feel as though the topic might be a little too close to home (and jeopardize my pseudonymity), so today I'll discuss something completely unrelated instead. :)

Comedic aside: the first sentence of the review paper below mentions three lineages of flying vertebrates. I was having trouble coming up with the third, so I asked K, "Name a vertebrate that flies other than birds and bats." His responses were flying squirrels (not true flight), fish ("Swimming is like flying, right?"), and then he asked, "Are there any flying plants?" Oh dear. I swear he isn't as dumb as he looks on paper. You'd think that if he was going to leave the clade of vertebrates altogether, he'd at least come up with insects before jumping to hypothetical flying plants. But I digress. Actually, I still haven't figured out what the third lineage is, although I suspect that what we group together as 'bats' might actually be two distinct lineages. Or maybe the authors were referring to an extinct lineage that I'm not familiar with. I'll have to look that up later.






(Click to embiggen.)


Codd, J. (2010). Uncinate processes in birds: Morphology, physiology and function☆ Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, 156 (3), 303-308 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2009.12.005


  1. Third lineage of flying vertebrates would be pterosaurs, I think - unless the authors specifically referred to living lineages.

  2. ........DUH. Oh man, how could I forget that?


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