Birds of a feather not related to each other
If it walks like a flamingo and looks like a flamingo, it is not necessarily a flamingo - or even a close relative. A controversial genetic study suggests we have completely misunderstood how the majority of birds are related, and that some species that look almost identical are not related at all. The discovery comes from an analysis of the evolution of the bird gene beta-fibrinogen. It suggests that the Neoaves, a group that includes all modern bird species except waterfowl, landfowl and flightless birds, actually comprises two distinct lineages called the Metaves and Coronaves, and that many birds which look alike are not in the same lineage. …But Joel Cracraft at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, US, is not convinced. "The base of modern birds is a very difficult problem to resolve. This is a welcome data set, but it’s not going to be this simple," he says. [The researchers] are working with 11 other genes to corroborate their results.