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Traditionally, the
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
order Apodiformes contained three living families: the
swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...
s (Apodidae), the
treeswift Treeswifts or crested swifts are a family, the Hemiprocnidae, of aerial near passerine birds, closely related to the true swifts. The family contains a single genus, ''Hemiprocne'', with four species. They are distributed from India and Southeas ...
s (Hemiprocnidae), and the
hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...
s (Trochilidae). In the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, this order is raised to a superorder Apodimorphae in which hummingbirds are separated as a new order,
Trochiliformes Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics arou ...
. With nearly 450 species identified to date, they are the most diverse order of birds after the
passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...
s.


Description

As their name ("footless" in
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
) suggests, their legs are small and have limited function aside from perching. The feet are covered with bare skin rather than the scales (scutes) that other birds have. Another shared characteristic is long wings with short, stout
humerus The humerus (; ) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extremity consists of a roun ...
bones. The
evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
of these wing characteristics has provided the hummingbird with ideal wings for hovering.Mayr, Gerald (2003): Phylogeny of early tertiary swifts and hummingbirds (Aves: Apodiformes). ''
Auk An auk or alcid is a bird of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins, and murrelets. The word "auk" is derived from Icelandic ''álka'', from Old Norse ''alka'' (a ...
'' 120(1): 145–151.
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The hummingbirds, swifts, and crested swifts share other anatomical similarities with one another, as well as similarities (notably as to the skull) with their probable closest living relatives, the
owlet-nightjar Owlet-nightjars are small crepuscular birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. Most are native to New Guinea, but some species extend to Australia, the Moluccas, and New Caledonia. A flightless species from New Zealand is extinct. There i ...
s. The owlet-nightjars are apparently convergent with the closely related
Caprimulgiformes Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae and order Caprimulgiformes, characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They are sometimes called goatsuckers, due to the ancient folk tal ...
, which form a
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, ...
Cypselomorphae with the Apodiformes.


Evolution

The Apodiformes evolved in the Northern Hemisphere. '' Eocypselus'', a primitive genus known from the Late
Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...
or Early
Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...
of north-central Europe, is somewhat difficult to assign; it is considered a primitive hemiprocnid. This would suggest that the major apodiform lineages diverged shortly after the
Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary, formerly known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) boundary, is a geological signature, usually a thin band of rock containing much more iridium than other bands. The K–Pg boundary marks the end of ...
. However, the perching adaptation of the foot of ''Eocypselus'' on which this theory rests may just as well be a symplesiomorphy. Most researchers believe that presently this genus cannot be unequivocally assigned to either the Apodiformes or the Caprimulgiformes. The Early Eocene ''
Primapus ''Primapus'' is an extinct genus of apodiform bird from the Early Eocene of the United Kingdom. Its fossils were found in the London Clay, which was deposited around 50 million years ago. The type species is ''P. lacki''. Sources * ''Fossils' ...
'', found in England, is similar to both a primitive swift and the aegialornithids, which are in some aspects intermediate between swifts and owlet-nightjars. Fossil evidence demonstrates the existence of swifts during that period in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. At that time, most of Europe had a humid, subtropical climate, possibly comparable to modern-day southern China. For a map of Early–Middle Eocene Earth, see the Paleomap project; here note that both the
Caucasus mountains The Caucasus Mountains, : pronounced * hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ, : pronounced * az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced * rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ * tr, Kafkas Dağla ...
and the
Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
did not exist yet and aegialornithids were possibly present in North America.Somewhat doubtful, as this is difficult to reconcile with the other aegialornithid fossils and ''Primapus''. By the late Eocene (around 35 MYA), primitive hummingbirds started to diverge from the related jungornithids; the Middle Eocene '' Parargornis'' (
Messel Messel is a municipality in the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg in Hesse near Frankfurt am Main in Germany. The village is first mentioned, as ''Masilla'', in the Lorsch codex. Messel was the property of the lords of Groschlag from ca. 1400 to 1799 ...
, Germany) and the Late Eocene '' Argornis'', found in today's southernmost
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, belong to this lineage. '' Cypselavus'' (Late Eocene – Early Oligocene of Quercy, France) was either a primitive hemiprocnid or an aegialornithid. The placement of the Aegialornithidae is not quite clear. Various analyses place them sufficiently close to the Apodiformes to be included here, or into the unique owlet-nightjar lineage in the Cypselomorphae.


Taxonomy

ORDER APODIFORMES * Family † Aegialornithidae Lydekker, 1891 rimapinae Harrison, 1984c** Genus †''
Primapus ''Primapus'' is an extinct genus of apodiform bird from the Early Eocene of the United Kingdom. Its fossils were found in the London Clay, which was deposited around 50 million years ago. The type species is ''P. lacki''. Sources * ''Fossils' ...
'' Harrison & Walker, 1975 ** Genus †'' Aegialornis'' Lydekker, 1891 * Suborder Apodi ** Genus †'' Procypseloides'' Harrison, 1984c ** Genus †'' Laputavis'' Dyke, 2001b ** Genus †''
Scaniacypselus ''Scaniacypselus'' is a genus of basal swift from the Eocene of Denmark, Germany and France. Many well preserved specimens still showing plumage were discovered in the Messel Pit near Darmstadt, Germany. ''Scaniacypselus'' had relatively broade ...
'' Harrison, 1984 ** Family † Eocypselidae Harrison 1984 *** Genus †'' Eocypselus'' Harrison, 1984 ** Family Hemiprocnidae Oberholser, 1906 (treeswifts) ** Family
Apodidae The swifts are a family, Apodidae, of highly aerial birds. They are superficially similar to swallows, but are not closely related to any passerine species. Swifts are placed in the order Apodiformes with hummingbirds. The treeswifts are closely ...
Olphe-Galliard, 1887 (swifts) * Suborder Trochili ** Genus †'' Palescyvus'' Karchu, 1988 ** Family † Cypselavidae Mourer-Chauviré, 2006 *** Genus †'' Argornis'' Karchu, 1999 *** Genus †'' Cypselavus'' Gaillard, 1908 *** Genus †'' Parargornis'' Mayr, 2003 ** Family † Jungornithidae Karchu, 1988 *** Genus †'' Jungornis'' Karchu, 1988 ** Family
Trochilidae Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...
Vigors, 1825 (hummingbirds)


See also

*
List of Apodiformes by population This is a list of Apodiformes species by global population. While numbers are estimates, they have been made by the experts in their fields. For more information on how these estimates were ascertained, see Wikipedia's articles on population biol ...


References

{{Authority control Bird orders Extant Paleocene first appearances Paleocene taxonomic orders Eocene taxonomic orders Oligocene taxonomic orders Miocene taxonomic orders Pliocene taxonomic orders Pleistocene taxonomic orders Holocene taxonomic orders Taxa named by James L. Peters