Australian Museum Journal Osteological comparison of the Scrub-birds, Atrichornis, and Lyrebirds, Menura (Passeriformes: Atrichornithidae and Menuridae)
- Shortform:
- Rich et al., 1985, Rec. Aust. Mus. 37(3): 165–191
- Author(s):
- Rich, P. V.; McEvey, Allan R.; Baird, Robert F.
- Year published:
- 1985
- Title:
- Osteological comparison of the Scrub-birds, Atrichornis, and Lyrebirds, Menura (Passeriformes: Atrichornithidae and Menuridae)
- Serial title:
- Records of the Australian Museum
- Volume:
- 37
- Issue:
- 3
- Start page:
- 165
- End page:
- 191
- DOI:
- 10.3853/j.0067-1975.37.1985.308
- Language:
- English
- Date published:
- 20 November 1985
- Cover date:
- 20 November 1985
- ISSN:
- 0067-1975
- CODEN:
- RAUMAJ
- Publisher:
- The Australian Museum
- Place published:
- Sydney, Australia
- Subjects:
- AVES; OSTEOLOGY
- Digitized:
- 16 January 2009
- Reference number:
- 308
- EndNote package:
- EndNote file
- Title page:
- Title page (140kb PDF)
- Complete work:
- Complete work (5257kb PDF)
Abstract
Within Atrichornis the two species A. clamosus and A. rujescens are very similar overall, differing only in characters related to flightlessness, with A. clamosus appearing more volant than A. rujescens. Similarly, the two species within Menura are very similar overall, although M. novaehollandiae may be a stronger flyer than M. alberti. There are many differences between the genera Atrichornis and Menura, but the distribution of these character states across the order Passeriformes remains unstudied. What has been noted is that a suite of characters shared by Menura and Atrichornis, hitherto used to relate the Menurae to the Rhinocryptidae, are also shared by several other genera of birds from a variety of families. We suggest that these characters indicate convergence towards a terrestrial lifestyle and should not be used to indicate phylogenetic proximity.