Austrodyptornithes is a
clade of birds that include the orders
Sphenisciformes
Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...
(penguins) and
Procellariiformes
Procellariiformes is an order (biology), order of seabirds that comprises four family (biology), families: the albatrosses, the Procellariidae, petrels and shearwaters, and two families of storm petrels. Formerly called Tubinares and still call ...
(tube-nosed seabirds).
A 2014 analysis of
whole genomes of 48 representative bird species concluded that penguins are the
sister group of Procellariiformes,
from which they diverged about 60 million years ago.
References
Neognathae
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