Modifications of Pattern in the Aortic Arch System of Birds and Their Phylogenetic Significance

Abstract

ntroductionMy interest in the aortic arch system in birds was stimulated by the discovery of a functional left radix aortae in the belted kingfisher during a routine dissection of that bird in 1938. Subsequent studies on several other species of birds produced interesting anatomical information, and, with continued studies, a semblance of order in occurrence of carotid patterns became more and more evident.After a reasonably large series of families and orders of birds had been examined, it appeared that further studies might produce information which could be of value in avian taxonomy. As a result, a series of systematic studies of the main arteries of the neck and thorax of birds was initiated and carried out over a period of about 12 years.During the past 2 or 3 years important implications with respect to the evolution of the aortic arch system in the bhds became more apparent, and the present treatise deals primarily with this aspect of my accumulated studies.

A phylogenetic analysis of basal Anseriformes, the fossil Presbyornis, and the interordinal relationships of waterfowl

“…In several other characters listed by Olson & Feduccia (1980a), the traditional groupings represent erroneous, oversimplified, or nonhomologous classes of charactcrs, and the characters were rejected as uninformative or for which comprehensive rcanalysis was beyond the scope of this study: 'types' of intestinal convolutions (Gadow, 1879a(Gadow, , b, 1889Beddard, 191 I); variation in the liver or duodenum (Crisp, 1864;Mitchell, 1901); perforation of nostrils, whether in reference to a complete septum nasi osseum or operculum nasi integumentum (Van Tyne & Berger, 1976: PRESBIDRVIS AND BASAL ANSERIFORMES 37 1 Clark, 1993a); presence of an ingluvies or 'crop' (Gadow, 1879a, b;Swenander, 1902;Niethammer, 1933); 'type' of syrinx (Beddard, 1898;King, 1989King, , 1993; and patterns of carotid arteries (Garrod, 1873b;Glenny, 1955). Characters of the glandula uropygialis were excluded because these were polymorphic in most or all of the surveyed taxonomic groups (Johnston, 1988).…”

Phylogenetic interrelationships of the barbets (Aves: Capitonidae) and toucans (Aves: Ramphastidae) based on morphology with comparisons to DNA-DNA hybridization

“…(30) Glenny (1944Glenny ( , 1955 documented variations in the morphology of the major arteries in the region of the heart of piciformes. However, none of the variations he identified appear to be phylogenetically informative within the Ramphas toidea.…”

On the Carotid Body of Certain Birds

“…This species has a unicarotid arrangem ent of th e vascular sup ply to the brain (Glenny [1955]). The «carotid body» is situated sym de Kock, On the carotid body of certain birds 163 m etrically on both sides of the neck partially em bedded in p ara thyroid tissue som ew hat below th e thyroid, at a point where the common carotid gives off a num ber of branches, im m ediately below its bifurcation ( fig.…”