Neoaves is 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, ...

that consists of all modern

birds 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 ...

(Neornithes or Aves) with the exception of Paleognathae (ratites and kin) and Galloanserae (ducks, chickens and kin). Almost 95% of the roughly 10,000 known species of extant birds belong to the Neoaves. The early diversification of the various neoavian groups occurred very rapidly around the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, and attempts to resolve their relationships with each other have resulted initially in much controversy.

Phylogeny

The early diversification of the various neoavian groups occurred very rapidly around the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. As a result of the rapid radiation, attempts to resolve their relationships have produced conflicting results, some quite controversial, especially in the earlier studies. Nevertheless, some recent large phylogenomic studies of Neoaves have led to much progress on defining orders and supraordinal groups within Neoaves. Still, the studies have failed to produce to a consensus on an overall high order topology of these groups. A genomic study of 48 taxa by Jarvis ''et al''. (2014) divided Neoaves into two main clades, Columbea and Passerea, but an analysis of 198 taxa by Prum ''et al''. (2015) recovered different groupings for the earliest split in Neoaves. A reanalysis with an extended dataset by Reddy ''et al''. (2017) suggested this was due to the type of sequence data, with coding sequences favouring the Prum topology. The disagreement on topology even with large phylogenomic studies led Suh (2016) to propose a hard polytomy of nine clades as the base of Neoaves. An analysis by Houde ''et al''. (2019) recovered Columbea and a reduced hard polytomy of six clades within Passerea. Despite other disagreements, these studies do agree on a number of supraorderal groups, which Reddy ''et al''. (2017) dubbed the "magnificent seven", which together with three "orphaned orders" make up Neoaves. Significantly, they both include a large waterbird clade (

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 b ...

) and a large landbird clade ( Telluraves). The groups defined by Reddy ''et al''. (2017) are as follows: * The "magnificent seven" supraordinal clades: # Telluraves (landbirds) #

(waterbirds) # Eurypygimorphae ( sunbittern, kagu and tropicbirds) # Otidimorphae ( turacos, bustards and cuckoos) # Strisores ( nightjars,

swifts 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, ...

, hummingbirds and allies) # Columbimorphae (

mesite The mesites (Mesitornithidae) are a family of birds that are part of a clade (Columbimorphae) that include Columbiformes and Pterocliformes. They are smallish flightless or near flightless birds endemic to Madagascar. They are the only family wit ...

s, sandgrouse and pigeons) # Mirandornithes ( flamingos and

grebes Grebes () are aquatic diving birds in the order (biology), order Podicipediformes . Grebes are widely distributed freshwater birds, with some species also found in sea, marine habitats during Bird migration, migration and winter. Some flightless ...

) * The three orphaned orders: ** Opisthocomiformes ( hoatzin) **

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 t ...

( cranes and rails) ** Charadriiformes (

shorebirds 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...

, gulls and alcids)  

The following cladogram illustrates the proposed relationships between all neoavian bird clades. This consensus phylogeny of birds is based on phylogenomic data, reflecting a recent phylogenomic supertree analysisKimball, R.T.; Oliveros, C.H.; Wang, N.; White, N.D.; Barker, F.K.; Field, D.J.; Ksepka, D.T.; Chesser, R.T.; Moyle, R.G.; & Braun, M.J. (2019
A phylogenomic supertree of birds
''Diversity'' 2019, 11, 109. and modified after two more recent phylogenomic studies.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2330918 Neognathae Bird superorders Extant Campanian first appearances