Ornithere: Difference between revisions
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==Naming==
"Ornithere" (and the taxon name ''Ornitheria'') means bird-beast and stems from the bird-like appearance of the group. It is common for the names of sauceback taxa to end in ''-therium''.
The name "jewel-eyed sauceback" stems from one of their unique features—unlike most saucebacks which are blind, ornitheres have mirror-based eyes derived from their nostrils—called "eyestrils"—which have a shiny, jewel-like appearance.
==Anatomy==
In
===Feathers===
▲Their namesake are their eyestrils. Derived from the scent pits found in all beastworms, they are used for both sight and smell. The pupil is open to allow air in, and as this constraint prevented them from evolving lenses, they instead focus light using mirrors at the back of the eye. In effect, the entire eye is a highly efficient tapetum lucidum which reflects and focuses light into a photoreceptive patch on the inside next to the pupil hole. This causes them to appear to have white pupils, and if one were to look into a jewel-eyed sauceback's eyes, they would see exactly what it sees reflected back at them. The eye itself is stretched and squashed to focus and to push out old air, and the external part of it is featherless and rubbery. As having an open eye makes it prone to particles and small fauna becoming trapped inside, jewel-eyed saucebacks produce tears which they then remove from their eyes using the centrifugal force generated by shaking their heads like dogs.
Apart from their eyes, a striking feature of many ornitheres species is their bird-like feathers. These range from the downy plumes present in other saucebacks to complex, aerodynamic flight feathers unique to them. Many ornitheres have flight feathers, typically located on the legs (remiges) and tail (rectrices), forming "leg-wings" and a tail fan, respectively. Biats also have flight feathers attached to their ears (canard feathers). Similar to [[Wikipedia:Bird|birds]], these flight feathers are used for various forms of aerial locomotion, including fluttering, gliding, and flight.
In biats, feathers are organized into tracts, or pterylae, rather than covering the whole body. The flight feather tracts are the caudal (tail fan), left and right alar (wings), left and right aural (ears), and left and right pulmonary (upper tail); some of these are absent in more derived species. The body feathers are the dorsal tract (a U shape on the back that meets in front of the sauce plate), ventral tract (a U shape on the underbelly that meets at the gastralium), femoral tract (wing coverts; not to be confused with a bird's femoral tract), capital tract (head and neck), and buccal tract (front of face). The buccal tract is usually split from the capital tract by the oral ring, but in certain quails, it instead covers the cheeks and throat.<ref>[[Krikrees#Feathers]]</ref>
▲In most jewel-eyed saucebacks, the spiracles and microlungs are partially supported by chitinous shells called ceres. These are inherited from their harnessback ancestors and allow them to breathe more strongly than most other saucebacks.
===Legs and Hips===
Like other modern saucebacks, the legs of
The legs and outer toe bear long aerodynamic feathers similar to those of terran birds. They can be moved
There are two patagia on the leading edge of the limb, which streamline it for gliding or flight and obscure the anatomy underneath. One stretches from the ankle to the knee, while the other stretches from the knee to
Flight-capable species have large keels derived from the front protrusion of their cephalopelvis, which supports their massive wing muscles. Their hips are also more flexible, as necessitated by the use of their legs as wings, though this comes at the cost that the protrusion which supports the pillar-erect posture of other species is tilted upwards, therefore requiring them to use more energy to stand upright.▼
<gallery>
jeweleyewing1.png|Artwork by {{User|Cube67}}
jeweleyewing2.png
</gallery>
====Flight====
▲Flight-capable species of the subclass Sceloptera have highly muscular legs and large keels derived from the front protrusion of their cephalopelvis, which supports their massive wing muscles. Like bats, they also have muscular backs for pulling their wings up. Their hips are also more flexible, as necessitated by the use of their legs as wings, though this comes at the cost that the protrusion which supports the pillar-erect posture of other species is tilted
The muscles on the chest and back for flapping their wings attach to the femur.
<gallery>
OphreyBones.png|Skeleton of [[sausophrey]], showing the hip structure characteristic of flying saucebacks. Artwork by EvolutionIncarnate.
OphreyMuscles.png|Muscles, with skin outline
OphreyBackMuscles.png|Wing muscle top view, showing patagia.
OphreyBackBones.png|With bones.
Ophrey feathers.png|Feather arrangement
Krikree_Bones.png|[[Krikrees|Krikree]] skeleton, showing different anatomy on their side of the biat family tree
Krikree_Muscles.png
</gallery>
===Mouth Anatomy and Feeding===
Although nearly all living saucebacks have mandibles (or "tusks"), the mandibles of the
Ornitheres and their close relatives have limited up-down flexibility in their mandibles, unlike other saucebacks, as the muscles used to pivot the jaws up and down in other groups instead pull them together for a powerful bite. This gives strong-jawed species a superficially heart-shaped head, due to the powerful muscles bulging outwards.
The oral
===Reproduction===
All
==Locomotion==
Like most other saucebacks,
The most universal of these is the flutter jump, where they appear to run in midair while their flight feathers flap furiously, which slows their fall, adjusts their trajectory, and allows them to land directly into a sprint. The motion, and its function, can be somewhat likened to alternating wing beats. Similar to the flutter jump is a form of wing-assisted incline running where the furious left-right flapping of the leg feathers creates a pushing force which allows smaller species to climb steep slopes without tumbling down.
Flightless species are usually capable of gliding at some stage of their life. As implied by the presence of specifically flightless species, some species can fly as well; the legs of the [[interbiat]] and its descendants are long and feathered like a bird's wings, and they flap them to fly.
Some
<gallery>
Brighteyes.png|Most small
Interbiat.png|Descendants of the interbiat are capable of powered flight.
Argusraptor Complex.png|Argusraptors are monodactyl runners, walking on just a single horse-like hoof.
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==History==
[[File:Brighteyes.png|thumb|[[Brighteyes]] was the first
The first
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==Size==
[[File:Quail Raptor.png|thumb|left|At 20 centimeters in length, the [[Quail Raptor]] is the smallest of all
===Size Limits===
Terrestrial, flightless ornitheres, like other saucebacks, should be capable of reaching similar sizes to Terran theropods, as they are similarly lightweight obligate bipeds.
The flighted biats have not had their maximum size calculated, however their combination of a very large number of lightweight traits (a skeleton that lacks mineralized components, feather-based wings, a wing-based launch which requires no additional pairs of limbs, and a small total number of digits on their limbs), a respiratory system that can very quickly become unidirectional and is well-suited to the rapid development of air sacs, and their flight muscles and respiratory system being in different parts of their body, it is speculated that they can grow much larger than the largest Terran pterosaurs.
Ornitheres should, under normal circumstances, be capable of shrinking to similarly tiny sizes to other warm-blooded saucebacks.
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==Taxonomy and Diversity==
This is the placement of ornitheres relative to various other living sauceback groups:
{{clade|{{clade|{{clade|Waxfaces|Larvabacks}}|{{clade|2=Loafshells|1={{clade|Shrewbacks|{{clade|Basal Heartheads|'''Ornitheres'''}}}}}}}}}}
The relations between the different major groups of ornitheres are as follows:
{{clade|label1= Basal Forms |{{clade|Argusraptors|label2= Biats |{{clade|Ophreys|Quails}}}}}}
<gallery>
Brighteyes.png|Basal forms
Argusraptor Complex.png|Argusraptors
Interbiat.png|
Sausophrey.png|Ophreys
Quail Raptor.png|Quails
</gallery>
'''Basal ornitheres''' are flightless, semi-arboreal runners which closely resemble the [[brighteyes]].
'''Argusraptors''' are larger, cursorial, monodactyl, and often predatory ornitheres descended from the [[Argusraptor Complex|''Argusraptor'' species complex]]. They include some of the largest species in the group.
'''Biats''' or '''saucebirds''' are the flighted clade descended from the [[interbiat]]. Basal biats retain long tails, but some more derived species have shorter tails.
'''Ophreys''' are advanced fliers with short tails and unidirectional macrolungs. Descended from the [[sausophrey]], they include some of the highest-flying species.
'''Quails''' are another branch of biats which have reduced teeth, mobile tail spurs behind the lungs, and a much greater number of eyes. Some species have bundled their numerous eyes into a single main pair of compound eyes.
==Graphics==
<gallery>
Interbiat Silhouette.svg|Silhouette of [[interbiat]]
</gallery>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Common Names]]
[[Category:Group Overviews]]
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