Vanescaves is a probable clade of
strisorean birds that include the clades
Steatornithiformes (the oilbird),
Nyctibiiformes (the potoos),
Podargiformes (frogmouths), and
Apodimorphae (owlet-nightjars, swifts, and hummingbirds). Some molecular studies do support the grouping of these birds,
others offer conflicting positions of the non-apodimorphaean strisoreans.
In 2019 the authors Chen ''et al.'' performed a combined analysis using 2289
ultra-conserved element An ultra-conserved element (UCE) was originally defined as a genome segment longer than 200 base pairs (bp) that is absolutely conserved, with no insertions or deletions and 100% identity, between orthologous regions of the human, rat, and mouse ge ...
s
CEs 117 morphological characters from extant and fossil taxa found support in this clade.
The authors then proposed to name this group, which its meaning is
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "vanish birds" in reference to the disparate nature of their geographic distribution, as well as to the poem "A Route of Evanescence" by the American
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
Emily Dickinson
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.
Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...
which features a
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 ...
as the main subject.
[ In 2020 Chen & Field named the two major subclades of this group, with Sedentaves (oilbirds and potoos) and Letornithes (frogmouths, owlet-nightjars, swifts, and hummingbirds) for their crown-groups.][ White & Braun (2019)][ with ]phylocode
The ''International Code of Phylogenetic Nomenclature'', known as the ''PhyloCode'' for short, is a formal set of rules governing phylogenetic nomenclature. Its current version is specifically designed to regulate the naming of clades, leaving the ...
names following Chen & Field (2020).[
]
References
Neognathae
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