How did flightless birds end up on so many Southern continents?
Widrig et al 2025 applied quantitative skeletal evidence
to answer the persistent question, “how did closely related flightless palaeognath birds end up on far flung continents?”
The authors wrote:
“We investigate the flight capabilities and ecology of the Palaeogene lithornithid Lithornis promiscuus using a three-dimensional geometric morphometric dataset spanning the avian crown group. Our models reject the hypothesis that Lithornis would have relied on tinamou-like burst flight, and show that its sternum morphology is consistent with a range of aerobic, flapping flight styles—closely resembling those of many extant birds exhibiting pronounced dispersal capabilities.”
Figure 1. My introduction to Pseudocrypturus was as this drawing in Carroll 1988. Here a DGS tracing of the skull is compared to earlier drawings.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/pseudocrypturus-588.jpg?w=121″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/pseudocrypturus-588.jpg?w=414″ class=”size-full wp-image-28074″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/pseudocrypturus-588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. My introduction to Pseudocrypturus was as this drawing in Carroll 1988. Here a DGS tracing of the skull is compared to earlier drawings.” width=”584″ height=”1445″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/pseudocrypturus-588.jpg?w=584&h=1445 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/pseudocrypturus-588.jpg?w=61&h=150 61w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/pseudocrypturus-588.jpg?w=121&h=300 121w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/pseudocrypturus-588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 1. My introduction to Pseudocrypturus was as this drawing in Carroll 1988. Here a DGS tracing of the skull is compared to earlier drawings. From 2017.
Lithornis is not yet tested
in the large reptile tree (LRT, 2337 taxa, subset Fig 3) – but a related taxon, Pseudocrypturus (Fig 1), is tested. It is also a kiwi (Apteryx) relative in the LRT. These are related in the LRT to extant snipes (Gallinago) and woodcocks (Scolopax) on the clade that splits off from the clade that gave us Strutho, the ostrich (Fig 1) and other related extant flightless birds.
Four problems hobbled the Widrig et al paper:
1) The authors employed genomics to assemble their cladogram. That keeps fossils out of the data matrix and makes unlike taxa close relatives.
2) The authors focused on the sternum to create geometric morphometrics.
3) The authors assumed a post-asteroid dispersal of extant birds when the LRT indicates an Early Cretaceous radiation of extant bird clades. That’s how we get Paleocene penguins.
4) The radiations of flightless penguins and terror birds are ignored.
Figure 1. Nearly proportioned like its giant descendant, Palaeotis was an Eocene ostrich less than 1/3 as tall.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/palaeotis-struthio-skeletons588.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/palaeotis-struthio-skeletons588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-29354″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/palaeotis-struthio-skeletons588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Nearly proportioned like its giant descendant, Palaeotis was an Eocene ostrich less than 1/3 as tall.” width=”584″ height=”514″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/palaeotis-struthio-skeletons588.jpg?w=584&h=514 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/palaeotis-struthio-skeletons588.jpg?w=150&h=132 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/palaeotis-struthio-skeletons588.jpg?w=300&h=264 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/palaeotis-struthio-skeletons588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 21. Nearly proportioned like its giant descendant, Palaeotis was an Eocene ostrich less than 1/3 as tall.
According to the LRT
a hypothetical phylogenetic radiation preceding the breakup of Gondwana during the Cretaceous resolves the problem of flightless palaeognath bird dispersal and other bird clade dispersals.
Figure 1. Subset of the LRT focusing on birds. Galliformes in light red. Anseriformes in light blue. Frame 2 shows taxa in Livezey and Zusi 2007 in their joining of these two clades. Note: Megapodius and Chauna are not related to either Galliformes nor Anseriformes in the LRT.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/birds.lrt588.gif?w=94″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/birds.lrt588.gif?w=322″ class=”size-full wp-image-92154″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/birds.lrt588.gif” alt=”Figure 1. Subset of the LRT focusing on birds. Galliformes in light red. Anseriformes in light blue. Frame 2 shows taxa in Livezey and Zusi 2007 in their joining of these two clades. Note: Megapodius and Chauna are not related to either Galliformes nor Anseriformes in the LRT.” width=”584″ height=”1859″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/birds.lrt588.gif?w=584&h=1859 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/birds.lrt588.gif?w=47&h=150 47w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/birds.lrt588.gif?w=94&h=300 94w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/birds.lrt588.gif 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 3. Subset of the LRT focusing on birds. Galliformes in light red. Anseriformes in light blue. Frame 2 shows taxa in Livezey and Zusi 2007 in their joining of these two clades. Note: Megapodius and Chauna are not related to either Galliformes nor Anseriformes in the LRT.
Statistics and morphometrics
should be the last steps in understanding systematics and dispersals. First build a robust phylogenetic analysis based on traits, not genes. That way fossil taxa can also be tested.
References
Widrig et al (4 co-authors) 2025. uantitative analysis of stem-palaeognath flight capabilities sheds light on ratite dispersal and flight loss. Biology Letters .2120250320 http://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0320
wiki/Lithornis
wiki/Cinereous_tinamou – Crypturellus
wiki/Vegavis
wiki/Pseudocrypturus
wiki/Apteryx, Kiwi
wiki/Eurasian_woodcock https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Common_snipe
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2025/09/20/how-did-flightless-birds-end-up-on-so-many-southern-continents/
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