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Phaethontimorphae
Eurypygimorphae or Phaethontimorphae is a clade of birds that contains the orders Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds) and Eurypygiformes (kagu and sunbittern) recovered by genome analysis. The relationship was first identified in 2013 based on their nuclear genes. Historically these birds were placed at different parts of the tree, with tropicbirds in Pelecaniformes and the kagu and sunbittern in Gruiformes. Some genetic analyses have placed the eurypygimorph taxa in the controversial and obsolete clade Metaves Metaves ("other birds") is a controversial group proposed by Fain & Houde (2004) and later rescued on the studies of Ericson ''et al.'' (2006)Ericson, P.G.P. ''et al.'' (2006Diversification of Neoaves: integration of molecular sequence data and f ..., with uncertain placement within that group. More recent molecular studies support their grouping together in Eurypygimorphae, which is usually recovered as the sister taxon to Aequornithes within Ardeae.Prum, R.O. ''et al''. ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White-tailed Tropicbird
The white-tailed tropicbird (''Phaethon lepturus'') is a tropicbird. It is the smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. It is found in the tropical Atlantic, western Pacific and Indian Oceans. It also breeds on some Caribbean islands, and a few pairs have started nesting recently on Little Tobago, joining the red-billed tropicbird colony. In addition to the tropical Atlantic, it nests as far north as Bermuda, where it is locally called a "longtail". Taxonomy There are six subspecies: * ''P. l. lepturus''—Indian Ocean * ''P. l. fulvus'' (golden bosun)—This form has a golden wash to the white plumage * ''P. l. dorotheae''—tropical Pacific * ''P. l. catesbyi''—Bermuda and Caribbean * ''P. l. ascensionis''— Ascension Island * ''P. l. europae''—Europa Island, s. Mozambique Channel Description The adult white-tailed tropicbird is a slender, mainly white bird, 71–80 cm long including the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunbittern
The sunbittern (''Eurypyga helias'') is a bittern-like bird of tropical regions of the Americas, and the sole member of the family Eurypygidae (sometimes spelled Eurypigidae) and genus ''Eurypyga''. It is found in Central and South America, and has three subspecies. The sunbittern shows both morphological and molecular similarities with the kagu (''Rhynochetos jubatus'') of New Caledonia, indicating a gondwanic origin, both species being placed in the clade Eurypygiformes.del Hoyo, J. Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. (editors). (1996) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 3: Hoatzin to Auks''. Lynx Edicions. Taxonomy The sunbittern is usually placed in the Gruiformes, but this was always considered preliminary. Altogether, the bird is most similar to another bird that was provisionally placed in the Gruiformes, the kagu (''Rhynochetos jubatus''). Molecular studies seem to confirm that the kagu and sunbittern are each other's closest living relatives and have a similar wing d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phaethontiformes
The Phaethontiformes are an order of birds. They contain one extant family, the tropicbirds (Phaethontidae), and one extinct family Prophaethontidae from the early Cenozoic. Several fossil genera have been described. The tropicbirds were traditionally grouped in the order Pelecaniformes, which contained the pelicans, cormorants and shags, darters, gannets and boobies and frigatebirds; in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, the Pelecaniformes were united with other groups into a large "Ciconiiformes". More recently this grouping has been found to be massively paraphyletic (missing closer relatives of its distantly related groups) and split again. Microscopic analysis of eggshell structure by Konstantin Mikhailov in 1995 found that the eggshells of tropicbirds lacked the covering of thick microglobular material of other Pelecaniformes. Some early studies in the last decade suggested Phaethontiformes were distantly related to Procellariiformes, but since 2004 they have been plac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eurypygiformes
Eurypygiformes is an order formed by the kagus, comprising two species in the family Rhynochetidae endemic to New Caledonia, and the sunbittern (''Eurypyga helias'') from the tropical regions of the Americas. Its closest relatives appear to be the tropicbirds of the tropical Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. Classification The affinities of Eurypygiformes are not very well resolved. The group consists of two families from a Gondwanan lineage of birds. Based on some morphological characteristics, they were initially classed as members of the family Ardeidae, and later the Gruiformes. According to Jarvis, et al.'s 2014 "Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds", the group is distantly related to the Phaethontiformes.Whole-geno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, the equivalent Latin term ''cladus'' (plural ''cladi'') is often used in taxonomical literature. The common ancestor may be an individual, a population, or a species (extinct or extant). Clades are nested, one in another, as each branch in turn splits into smaller branches. These splits reflect evolutionary history as populations diverged and evolved independently. Clades are termed monophyletic (Greek: "one clan") groups. Over the last few decades, the cladistic approach has revolutionized biological classification and revealed surprising evolutionary relationships among organisms. Increasingly, taxonomists try to avoid naming taxa that are not clades; that is, taxa that are not monophyletic. Some of the relationships between organisms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kagu
The kagu or cagou (''Rhynochetos jubatus'') is a crested, long-legged, and bluish-grey bird endemic to the dense mountain forests of New Caledonia. It is the only surviving member of the genus ''Rhynochetos'' and the family Rhynochetidae, although a second species has been described from the fossil record. Measuring in length, it has pale grey plumage and bright red legs. Its 'nasal corns' are a unique feature not shared with any other bird. Almost flightless, it spends its time on or near the ground, where it hunts its invertebrate prey, and builds a nest of sticks on the forest floor. Both parents share incubation of a single egg, as well as rearing the chick. It has proven vulnerable to introduced predators and is threatened with extinction. Taxonomy and systematics The kagu's affinities are not well resolved. It was long one of the most enigmatic birds and in more recent times is usually affiliated with the Gruiformes. It was initially classed as a member of the clade A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pelecaniformes
The Pelecaniformes are an order of medium-sized and large waterbirds found worldwide. As traditionally—but erroneously—defined, they encompass all birds that have feet with all four toes webbed. Hence, they were formerly also known by such names as totipalmates or steganopodes. Most have a bare throat patch (gular patch), and the nostrils have evolved into dysfunctional slits, forcing them to breathe through their mouths. They also have a pectinate nail on their longest toe. This is shaped like a comb and is used to brush out and separate their feathers. They feed on fish, squid, or similar marine life. Nesting is colonial, but individual birds are monogamous. The young are altricial, hatching from the egg helpless and naked in most. They lack a brood patch. The pelicans, shoebill and hamerkop form a clade within the order, with their next closest relatives being a clade containing the herons, ibises and spoonbills. The Fregatidae (frigatebirds), Sulidae (gannets and boobie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gruiformes
The Gruiformes are an order (biology), order containing a considerable number of living and extinct bird family (biology), families, with a widespread geographical diversity. Gruiform means "crane-like". Traditionally, a number of wading and terrestrial bird families that did not seem to belong to any other order were classified together as Gruiformes. These include 14 species of large crane (bird), cranes, about 145 species of smaller Rallidae, crakes and rails, as well as a variety of families comprising one to three species, such as the Heliornithidae, the limpkin, or the Psophiidae. Other birds have been placed in this order more out of necessity to place them ''somewhere''; this has caused the expanded Gruiformes to lack distinctive apomorphies. Recent studies indicate that these "odd Gruiformes" are if at all only loosely related to the cranes, rails, and relatives ("core Gruiformes"). Systematics There are only two suprafamilial clades (natural groups) among the birds t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metaves
Metaves ("other birds") is a controversial group proposed by Fain & Houde (2004) and later rescued on the studies of Ericson ''et al.'' (2006)Ericson, P.G.P. ''et al.'' (2006Diversification of Neoaves: integration of molecular sequence data and fossils. Biology Letters, 2(4):543–547 and Hackett ''et al.'' (2008).Hackett, S.J. ''et al.'' (2008A Phylogenomic Study of Birds Reveals Their Evolutionary History ''Science'', 320(5884):1763–1768. This group consists of several lineages that diversified early in Neornithes evolution. These lineages include Strisores (hummingbirds, swifts, nightjars and allies), pigeons, sandgrouses, mesites, Eurypygae (sunbittern and kagu), tropicbirds and Mirandornithes (flamingos and grebe Grebes () are aquatic diving birds in the order Podicipediformes . Grebes are widely distributed freshwater birds, with some species also found in marine habitats during migration and winter. Some flightless species exist as well, most notably ...s), but the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aequornithes
Aequornithes (, from Latin ''aequor'', expanse of water + Greek ''ornithes'', birds), or core water birds are defined as "the least inclusive clade containing Gaviidae and Phalacrocoracidae". The monophyly of the group is currently supported by several molecular phylogenetic studies. Aequornithes includes the clades Gaviiformes, Sphenisciformes, Procellariiformes, Ciconiiformes, Suliformes and Pelecaniformes. It does not include several unrelated groups of aquatic birds such as flamingos and grebes ( Mirandornithes), shorebirds and auks (Charadriiformes), or the Anseriformes. Based on a whole-genome analysis of the bird orders, the kagu and sunbittern (Eurypygiformes) and the three species of tropicbirds (Phaethontiformes) together styled as the Eurypygimorphae are the closest sister group of the Aequornithes in the clade Ardeae. Cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ardeae
Phaethoquornithes is a clade of birds that contains Eurypygimorphae and Aequornithes, found in 2014 by genome analysis. Members of Eurypygimorphae were originally classified in the obsolete group Metaves, and Aequornithes were classified as the sister taxon to Musophagiformes or Gruiformes. Ardeae has also been used in older classifications as a suborder of Ciconiiformes containing herons and related species. Cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to d ... based on Kuhl, H. ''et al''. (2020) References Neognathae {{bird-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
