Neoaves

Neoaves is a clade that consists of all modern birds (Neornithes or Aves) with the exception of Paleognathae (ratites and kin) and Galloanserae (ducks, chickens and kin).[2] Almost 95% of the roughly 10,000 known species of modern birds belong to the Neoaves.[3]

Neoavians Temporal range: Late Cretaceous – Holocene, 69–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N [1]
Common starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Infraclass:	Neognathae
Clade:	Neoaves Sibley et al., 1988
Clades
Strisores Columbaves Gruiformes Aequorlitornithes Inopinaves

The early diversification of the various neoavian groups occurred very rapidly around the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event,[4][5] and attempts to resolve their relationships with each other have resulted initially in much controversy.[6][7]

Phylogeny

The early diversification of the various neoavian groups occurred very rapidly around the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.[8] As a result of the rapid radiation attempts to resolve their relationships have produced conflicting results, some quite controversial, especially in the earlier studies.[9][10][11] Nevertheless, some recent large phylogenomic studies of Neoaves have led to much progress on defining orders and supraordinal groups within Neoaves, even though they have failed to come to a consensus on an overall high order topology of these groups.[12][13][14][11] 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.[12][13] A reanalysis with an extended dataset by Reddy et al. (2017) suggested this was due the type of sequence data, with coding sequences favouring the Prum topology.[14] 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.[15] An analysis by Houde et al. (2019) recovered Columbea and a reduced hard polytomy of six clades within Passerea.[16]

Nevertheless, 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.[14] Significantly, they both include a large waterbird clade (Aequornithes) and a large landbird clade (Telluraves). The groups defined by Reddy et al. (2017) are as follows:

• The "magnificent seven" supraordinal clades:

1. Telluraves (landbirds)
2. Aequornithes (waterbirds)
3. Eurypygimorphae (sunbittern, kagu and tropicbirds)
4. Otidimorphae (turacos, bustards and cuckoos)
5. Strisores (nightjars, swifts, hummingbirds and allies)
6. Columbimorphae (mesites, sandgrouse and pigeons)
7. Mirandornithes (flamingos and grebes)

• The three orphaned orders:
  • Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin)
  • Gruiformes (cranes and rails)
  • Charadriiformes (shorebirds, gulls and alcids)

 

Comparison of different proposals for Neoavian radiation

Jarvis et al. (2014)[2]

Columbea   Mirandornithes (flamingos, grebes)     Columbimorphae (pigeons, mesites, sandgrouse)     Passerea   Otidae   Otidimorphae (cuckoos, bustards, turacos)     Strisores (hummingbirds, swifts, nightbirds)           Gruae   Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin)   Gruimorphae   Gruiformes (cranes, rails)     Charadriiformes (shorebirds)           Ardeae   Aequornithes (core waterbirds)     Eurypgimorphae (sunbittern, kagu, tropicbirds)     Telluraves   Afroaves     Australaves   (core landbirds)

Prum et al. (2015)[17]

Strisores (hummingbirds, swifts, nightbirds)       Columbaves   Columbimorphae (pigeons, mesites, sandgrouse)     Otidimorphae (cuckoos, bustards, turacos)           Gruiformes (cranes, rails)     Aequorlitornithes     Charadriiformes (shorebirds)     Mirandornithes(flamingoes, grebes)     Ardeae   Aequornithes (core waterbirds)     Eurypgimorphae (sunbittern, kagu, tropicbirds)     (waterbirds) Inopinaves   Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin)     Telluraves (core landbirds)

Suh (2016) — a hard polytomy[15]

Columbimorphae (pigeons, mesites, sandgrouse)     Otidimorphae (cuckoos, bustards, turacos)     Strisores (hummingbirds, swifts, nightbirds)     Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin)     Gruiformes (cranes, rails)     Charadriiformes (shorebirds)     Mirandornithes (flamingoes, grebes)     Ardeae   Aequornithes (core waterbirds)     Eurypgimorphae (sunbittern, kagu, tropicbirds)         Telluraves   Afroaves     Australaves   (core landbirds)

The following cladogram illustrates the proposed relationships between all neoavian bird orders using the supraordinal tree recovered by Prum, R.O. et al. (2015)[13], with some taxon names following Yuri, T. et al. (2013)[18] and Kimball et al. (2013).[19]

Neoaves

Strisores   Caprimulgiformes (nightjars)         Steatornithiformes (oilbird)     Nyctibiiformes (potoos)         Podargiformes (frogmouths)       Aegotheliformes (owlet-nightjars)     Apodiformes (hummingbirds, treeswifts, and swifts)                 Columbaves Otidimorphae   Musophagiformes (turacos)       Otidiformes (bustards)     Cuculiformes (cuckoos)       Columbimorphae   Columbiformes (pigeons)       Mesitornithiformes (mesites)     Pterocliformes (sandgrouse)               Gruiformes (rails and cranes)     Aequorlitornithes   Mirandornithes   Phoenicopteriformes (flamingos)     Podicipediformes (grebes)       Charadriiformes (waders and relatives)     Ardeae Eurypygimorphae   Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds)     Eurypygiformes (sunbittern and kagu)     Aequornithes   Gaviiformes (loons)     Austrodyptornithes   Procellariiformes (albatross and petrels)     Sphenisciformes (penguins)         Ciconiiformes (storks)       Suliformes (boobies, cormorants, etc.)     Pelecaniformes (pelicans, herons, ibises, etc.)         (core waterbirds)     Inopinaves   Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin)   Telluraves   Accipitrimorphae   Cathartiformes (New World vultures)     Accipitriformes (hawks and relatives)             Strigiformes (owls)   Coraciimorphae   Coliiformes (mousebirds)   Cavitaves   Leptosomiformes (cuckoo roller)   Eucavitaves   Trogoniformes (trogons)   Picocoraciae   Bucerotiformes (hornbills and relatives)   Picodynastornithes   Coraciiformes (kingfishers and relatives)     Piciformes (woodpeckers and relatives)               Australaves   Cariamiformes (seriemas)   Eufalconimorphae   Falconiformes (falcons)   Psittacopasserae   Psittaciformes (parrots)     Passeriformes (passerines)           (core landbirds)

References

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2. Jarvis, E.D. (2014) Whole genome analyzes resolve the early branches in the tree of life of modern birds.
3. Ericson, Per G.P.; et al. (2006). "Diversification of Neoaves: integration of molecular sequence data and fossils" (PDF). Biology Letters. 2 (4): 543–547. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0523. PMC 1834003. PMID 17148284. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-25. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
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11. Braun, Edward L.; Cracraft, Joel; Houde, Peter (2019). "Resolving the Avian Tree of Life from Top to Bottom: The Promise and Potential Boundaries of the Phylogenomic Era". Avian Genomics in Ecology and Evolution. pp. 151–210. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-16477-5_6. ISBN 978-3-030-16476-8.
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