Even if the hoatzin is not one of them, cuckoos are quite interesting.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

The idea that the hoatzin is not close to seriemas or turacos, but is in fact a member of a hitherto-overlooked metavian clade at the base of Neoaves is an exciting one, mostly because it would make this bird strongly convergent on the coronavian turacos.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

As poor a flyer as a hoatzin, it could not trail them forever.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Triumph of Souls]

More taxa, more characters: the hoatzin problem is still unresolved.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

What do other studies have to say about the affinities of the hoatzin?.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

The seriema-hoatzin clade was closely allied with a cuckoo-turaco clade.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

See the next post (Goodbye my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin).    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2006-11-01] Reference

Darren Naish: Tetrapod Zoology: Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

Or again, the hoatzin bird that has claws on its wings as a juvenile–what does that logically imply?.    From Wordnik.com.  [The DI Spins Academic Freedom - The Panda's Thumb] Reference

Phylogenetic relationships of the enigmatic hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) resolved using mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

Sibley & Ahlquist (1973) concluded that the hoatzin was not just closely related to cuckoos, but actually deeply nested within Cuculidae.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

Interestingly, a louse (Osculotes) unique to the hoatzin does not have any close relatives among the lice that occur on cuckoos or turacos.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

Worth noting is that, while there are two fossil hoatzins, neither of them preserve enough information to tell us anything useful about hoatzin affinities, or about the way of life of the fossil forms.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

Unfortunately the phylogenetic affinities of the hoatzin have been one of the most contested issues within avian systematics (there is an entire review article devoted to this subject: Sibley & Ahlquist 1973).    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

I remembered a post from Carel's blog where he describes making a poor hatchling hoatzin jump into the water, but after checking it again I see he did not take photos of the unfortunate creature climbing back.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

Most usually considered close to either gamebirds or cuckoos (in fact, when first described in 1776 the hoatzin was classified as a species of Phasianus), hoatzins have also been allied over the years with turacos, rails, hornbills, sandgrouse and pigeons.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

Based – it has to be said – on just a handful of detailed morphological characters, combined with some inference based on biogeography and superficial similarity, the South American landbird group theory suggests the following: that there might be a hoatzin-cariamaen clade, probably persisting as relicts in South America but more widespread during the early Cenozoic.    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2006-11-01] Reference

The most interesting of the birds he had seen was the hoatzin.    From Wordnik.com.  [Through the Brazilian Wilderness] Reference

… there might be a hoatzin-cariamaen clade, probably persisting as relicts in South America but more widespread during the early Cenozoic.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

That project has led him to his next adventure: canoeing on the Amazon River in October to study a strange, dinosaurlike bird called the hoatzin.    From Wordnik.com.  [wacotrib - Latest News Headlines] Reference

The exceedingly rich bird fauna of South America contains many species which seem to be survivals from a very remote geologic past, whose kinsfolk have perished under the changed conditions of recent ages; and in the case of many, like the hoatzin and screamer, their like is not known elsewhere.    From Wordnik.com.  [Through the Brazilian Wilderness] Reference

I’ve never seen a live hoatzin, but there are many photos and bits of footage showing them climbing with their fingers.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

From the point of view of the South American landbird theory, Mayr & Clarke’s study is therefore significant in finding empirical character support for the monophyly of a turaco-hoatzin-seriema clade.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

Chatterjee in The Rise of Birds) was coined (so far as I can tell) by Johann Illiger in 1811 and thus post-dates Statius Muller’s 1776 publication of the name Phasianus hoazin (that’s right - the hoatzin was originally described as a type of pheasant).    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2006-11-01] Reference

The relationships of the hoatzin.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

The hoatzin problem.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference

Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin.    From Wordnik.com.  [Goodbye, my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin] Reference