Eurypygimorphae

Eurypygimorphae Temporal range: Early Paleocene - present [1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Possible Maastrichtian record
Top: white-tailed tropicbird (Phaethontiformes) Bottom: sunbittern (Eurypygiformes)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Clade:	Phaethoquornithes
Clade:	Eurypygimorphae Fürbringer, 1888
Orders
Phaethontiformes Eurypygiformes

Eurypygimorphae or Phaethontimorphae is a clade of birds that contains the orders Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds) and Eurypygiformes (kagu and sunbittern) recovered by genome analysis. ^[2] The relationship was first identified in 2013 based on their nuclear genes. ^[3] This group was defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Phaethon aethereus , Eurypyga helias , and Rhynochetos jubatus ". ^[4] Historically these birds were placed at different parts of the tree, with tropicbirds in Pelecaniformes and the kagu and sunbittern in Gruiformes. Some genetic analyses have placed the eurypygimorph taxa in the controversial and obsolete clade Metaves, with uncertain placement within that group. ^{[5] [6]} More recent molecular studies support their grouping together in Eurypygimorphae, which is usually recovered as the sister taxon to Aequornithes within Phaethoquornithes. ^{[2] [7] [8]}

References

1. Mayr, G.; De Pietri, V. L.; Love, L.; Mannering, A.; Crouch, E.; Reid, C.; Scofield, R. P. (2023). "Partial skeleton from the Paleocene of New Zealand illuminates the early evolutionary history of the Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds)". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 47 (3): 315–326. Bibcode:2023Alch...47..315M. doi: 10.1080/03115518.2023.2246528 .
2. Jarvis, E.D.; et al. (2014). "Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds". Science. 346 (6215): 1320–1331. Bibcode:2014Sci...346.1320J. doi:10.1126/science.1253451. PMC   4405904 . PMID   25504713.
3. Yuri, Tamaki; Kimball, Rebecca; Harshman, John; 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. doi: 10.3390/biology2010419 . PMC   4009869 . PMID   24832669.
4. Sangster, George; Braun, Edward L.; Johansson, Ulf S.; Kimball, Rebecca T.; Mayr, Gerald; Suh, Alexander (2022-01-01). "Phylogenetic definitions for 25 higher-level clade names of birds" (PDF). Avian Research. 13: 100027. Bibcode:2022AvRes..1300027S. doi: 10.1016/j.avrs.2022.100027 . ISSN   2053-7166.
5. Ericson, P. G.P; Anderson, C. L; Britton, T.; Elzanowski, A.; Johansson, U. S; Kallersjo, M.; Ohlson, J. I; Parsons, T. J; Zuccon, D.; Mayr, G. (2006). "Diversification of Neoaves: integration of molecular sequence data and fossils". Biology Letters. 2 (4): 543–547. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0523. PMC   1834003 . PMID   17148284.
6. Hackett, S. J.; Kimball, R. T.; Reddy, S.; et al. (2008). "A Phylogenomic Study of Birds Reveals Their Evolutionary History" (PDF). Science. 320 (5884): 1763–1768. Bibcode:2008Sci...320.1763H. doi:10.1126/science.1157704. PMID   18583609. S2CID   6472805.
7. Prum, R.O. et al. (2015) A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing. Nature 526, 569–573.
8. Suh, Alexander (2016). "The phylogenomic forest of bird trees contains a hard polytomy at the root of Neoaves". Zoologica Scripta. 45: 50–62. doi: 10.1111/zsc.12213 . ISSN   0300-3256.