Topic summary
Columbiformes
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Columbidae.
Origin and evolution
Columbiformes is one of the most diverse non-passerineclades of neoavians, and its origins are in the Cretaceous and the result of a rapid diversification at the end of the K–Pg boundary. Whole genome analyses have found Columbiformes is the sister clade to the clade Pteroclimesites a clade consisting the orders Pterocliformes (sandgrouses) and Mesitornithiformes (mesites). The columbiform-pteroclimesitean clade, or Columbimorphae, monophyly has been supported from several studies.