Abstract
Modern ratites (ostriches, rheas, cassowaries, emus, and kiwis) are flightless birds which have a palatal structure termed ‘palaeog-nathous’1 and are found on daughter-landmasses of the Mesozoic supercontinent Gondwanaland. It has been suggested2–4 that a single flightless ancestor, widely distributed in Gondwanaland, gave rise to the various lineages of ratite birds. The temporal calibration of the DNA molecular clock is primarily based on the divergence of ratites, and depends on the validity of this hypothesis. Newly studied fossils suggest that the ancestors of ostriches are instead among a group of North American and European birds, the ‘Lithornis-cohort’, that had the potential of flight and from which the kiwis may have arisen separately.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bock, W. J., Proc. XIII Int. Congr. Orn. 39–54 (1963).
Cracraft, J. J. Zool. 169, 455–545 (1973).
Prager, E. M., Wilson, A. C., Osuga, D. T. & Feeney, R. E. J. molec. Evol. 8, 283–294 (1976).
Sibley, C. G. & Ahlquist, J. E. Evolution Today, Proc. Second int. Congr. Syst. evol. Biol. (eds Scudder, G. G. E. & Reveal, J. L.) 301–335 (Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh).
houde, P. & Olson, S. L. Science 214, 1236–1237 (1981).
Parkes, K. C. & Clark, G. A. Jr Condor 68, 459–471 (1966).
Owen, R. Proc. Geol. Soc. Lond. 3, 162–166 (1840).
Harrison, C. J. O. Tertiary Res. spec. Pap. 5, 7–10 (1979).
Lambrecht, K. Jb. hallesch. Verb. Erforsch. Mitteldt. Bodenschatze 7, 1–11 (1928).
Feduccia, A. The Age of Birds (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1980).
Olson, S. L. . in Avion Biology Vol. 8 (eds Farner, D. S., King, J. R. & Parkes, K. C.) 80–238 (Academic, New York, 1985).
Van Couvering, J. A. & Van Couvering, J. A. H. Proc. VI Congr. Brataslava, Reg. Com. Mediterranean Neogene Strat., 363–367 (Brataslava, Czechoslovakia, 1975).
Cracraft, J. Ibis 116, 494–521 (1974).
Sibley, C. G. & Ahlquist, J. E. J. molec. Evol. 20, 2–15 (1984).
Houde, P. Auk (in the press).
Amprino, R. & Codifia, G. Anat. Anz. 95, 191–214 (1944).
Zavattari, E. & Cellini, I. Monitore zool, ital. 64, 189–200 (1956).
Houde, P. Auk (in the press).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Houde, P. Ostrich ancestors found in the Northern Hemisphere suggest new hypothesis of ratite origins. Nature 324, 563–565 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/324563a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/324563a0
This article is cited by
-
Skepticism, the critical standpoint, and the origin of birds: a partial critique of Havstad and Smith (2019)
Biology & Philosophy (2022)
-
A new zygodactylid species indicates the persistence of stem passerines into the early Oligocene in North America
BMC Evolutionary Biology (2019)
-
Systematics and Phylogeny of Paleocene-Eocene Nyctitheriidae (Mammalia, Eulipotyphla?) with Description of a new Species from the Late Paleocene of the Clarks Fork Basin, Wyoming, USA
Journal of Mammalian Evolution (2015)
-
The middle Eocene European “ratite” Palaeotis (Aves, Palaeognathae) restudied once more
Paläontologische Zeitschrift (2015)
-
Complete mitochondrial genome sequences of two extinct moas clarify ratite evolution
Nature (2001)
