Avebrevicauda

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Avebrevicauda
Temporal range:
Early CretaceousPresent, 136–0 Ma
Fossil specimen of Sapeornis chaoyangensis, Hong Kong Science Museum
Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: Avialae
Clade: Euavialae
Clade: Avebrevicauda
Paul, 2002
Subgroups

Avebrevicauda (meaning "birds with short tails") is a group which includes all avialan species with ten or fewer free vertebrae in the tail. The group was named in 2002 by Gregory S. Paul to distinguish short-tailed avialans from their ancestors, such as Archaeopteryx, which had long, reptilian tails.[1]

The cladogram below follows the results of a phylogenetic study by Wang et al., 2016.[2]

Euavialae

References

  1. ^ Paul, G.S. (2002). Dinosaurs of the Air. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 460 pp.
  2. ^ Wang M., Wang X., Wang Y., and Zhou Z. (2016). A new basal bird from China with implications for morphological diversity in early birds. Scientific Reports, 6: 19700. doi:10.1038/srep19700.