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Neognaths
Temporal range: Early CretaceousHolocene, 120–0 Ma
PreЄ
Є
Є
O
O
S
S
D
D
C
C
P
P
T
T
J
J
Pg
Pg
N
N
[1]
Red Junglefowl
Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus)
House Sparrow
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Infraclass: Neognathae
Pycraft, 1900
Subgroups

Neognaths (Neognathae) are birds within the subclass Neornithes of the class Aves. The Neognathae include virtually all living birds; exceptions being their sister taxon (Palaeognathae), which contains the tinamous and the flightless ratites.

There are nearly 10,000 species of neognaths. The earliest fossils are known from the very end of the Cretaceous but molecular clocks suggest that neognaths originated sometime in the first half of the Late Cretaceous about 90 million year ago.[2] Since then, they have undergone adaptive radiation producing the diversity of form, function, and behavior that we see today. It includes the order Passeriformes (perching birds), the largest clade of land vertebrates, containing some 60% of living birds and being more than twice as speciose as rodents and about five times as speciose as Chiroptera (bats), which are the largest clades of mammals. There are also some very small orders, usually birds of very unclear relationships like the puzzling hoatzin.

The neognaths have fused metacarpals, an elongate third finger, and 13 or fewer vertebrae. They differ from the Palaeognathae in features like the structure of their jawbones. "Neognathae" means "new jaws", but it seems that the supposedly "more ancient" paleognath jaws are among the few apomorphic (more derived) features of this group as compared to the neognaths.[citation needed]

Taxonomy and systematics[]

The Neognathae were long ranked as a superorder and not subdivided any further. Attempts to do so, as in the Conspectus of Charles Lucien Bonaparte, were never accepted by a significant majority of ornithologists. Until the 1980s, there was little subdivision of the Aves in general, and even less of phylogenetic merit. Since then, the availability of massive amounts of new data from fossils (especially Enantiornithes and other Mesozoic birds) and molecular (DNA and protein) sequences allowed scientists to refine the classification. With new groups of neognath orders being verified, the taxonomic rank of the group needed to shift. Most researchers have now employed the unranked taxa of phylogenetic nomenclature.[3]

The Neognathae are universally accepted to subdivide into two lineages, the "fowl" clade Galloanseres and the Neoaves (sometimes called "higher neognaths"). The subdivisions of the latter are still not well resolved, but several monophyletic lineages have been proposed, such as the Mirandornithes, Cypselomorphae, Metaves, and Coronaves. Although groups such as the former two (uniting a few closely related orders) are robustly supported, this cannot be said for the Metaves and Coronaves division for which there is no material evidence at present, while the Mesozoic record of Neognathae is at present utterly devoid of birds that should have been present if these proposed clades were real.[4]

Systematics[]

The orders are arranged in a sequence that attempts to follow the modern view on neognath phylogeny. It differs from the widely used Clements taxonomy as well as from the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, combining those elements from each that more modern research agrees with while updating those that are refuted. Most of the changes affect those "higher landbirds" that are sometimes united as near passerines.[5]

Neognathia[]

Feduccia defined the clade Neognathia as birds whose palatal mobility increased due to the following modifications (Feduccia 1980, 1996):

  • Loss of the Basipterygoid articulation with the cranium.
  • Development of a pterygoid/palatine joint.
  • Reduction of the vomer, such that it does not reach caudally to the pterygoid, or is lost entirely.

Relationships[]

Neognathae cladogram of modern bird relationships based on Prum, R.O. et al. (2015)[6] with some clade names after Yury, T. et al. (2013)[7] and Kimball et al. 2013.[8]

Neognathae

Galloanserae

Galliformes (chickens and relatives) Red Junglefowl



Anseriformes (ducks and relatives) File:Mandarin Duck.png



Neoaves

Strisores (hummingbirds and relatives) Mascarene Swiftlet



Columbaves
Otidimorphae

Musophagiformes (turacos)File:Red-crested Turaco.png




Otidiformes (bustards)File:Northern Black-Korhaan.png



Cuculiformes (cuckoos)Common Cuckoo




Columbimorphae

Columbiformes (pigeons) File:Rock Pigeon.png




Mesitornithiformes (mesites)File:Subdesert Mesite.png



Pteroclidiformes (sandgrouse)Four-banded Sandgrouse







Gruiformes (rails and cranes)File:Sandhill Crane.png



Aequorlitornithes

Mirandornithes

Phoenicopteriformes (flamingos)File:Greater Flamingo.png



Podicipediformes (grebes)File:Western Grebe.png




Charadriiformes (waders and relatives)Arctic Tern




Eurypygimorphae

Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds)File:Red-billed Tropicbird.png



Eurypygiformes (sunbittern and kagu)File:Sunbittern.png




Aequornithes (waterbirds)File:Chinstrap Penguin.pngFile:White Stork.png




Inopinaves

Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin)Hoatzin


Telluraves
Afroaves
Accipitrimorphae

Cathartiformes (New World vultures)Black Vulture



Accipitriformes (hawks and relatives)Pearl Kite





Strigiformes (owls)Western Barn-Owl


Coraciimorphae

Coliidae (mousebirds)Speckled Mousebird


Cavitaves

Leptosomatiformes (cuckoo roller)Cuckoo Roller


Eucavitaves

Trogoniformes (trogons)Surucua Trogon


Picocoraciae

Bucerotiformes (hornbills and relatives)Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill




CoraciiformesWhite-throated Kingfisher



PiciformesGreat Spotted Woodpecker









Australaves

Cariamiformes (seriemas)Red-legged Seriema


Eufalconimorphae

Falconiformes (falcons)Peregrine Falcon


Psittacopasserae

Psittaciformes (parrots)Cockatiel



Passeriformes (perching birds and kin)House Sparrow













Footnotes[]

  1. ^ Van Tuinen M. (2009) Birds (Aves). In The Timetree of Life, Hedges SB, Kumar S (eds). Oxford: Oxford University Press; 409–411.
  2. ^ Claramunt, S.; Cracraft, J. (Dec 2015). "A new time tree reveals Earth history's imprint on the evolution of modern birds". Sci Adv. 1 (11). PMC 4730849Freely accessible. PMID 26824065. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1501005. 
  3. ^ Mindell & Brown (2005)
  4. ^ For a draft phylogeny of Neoaves that is based on a review of massive amounts of published sources, and probably rather close to "the real thing", see Mindell et al. (2005)
  5. ^ Mindell et al. (2005)
  6. ^ Prum, R.O. et al. (2015) A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing. Nature 526, 569–573.
  7. ^ Yuri, T.; et al. (2013). "Parsimony and Model-Based Analyses of Indels in Avian Nuclear Genes Reveal Congruent and Incongruent Phylogenetic Signals". Biology. 2 (1): 419–444. PMC 4009869Freely accessible. PMID 24832669. doi:10.3390/biology2010419. 
  8. ^ Kimball, R.T. et al. (2013) Identifying localized biases in large datasets: A case study using the Avian Tree of Life. Mol Phylogenet Evol. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.05.029

References[]

External links[]


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Hemipus picatus This article is part of Project Bird Taxonomy, a All Birds project that aims to write comprehensive articles on every order, family and other taxonomic rank related to birds.
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