Near passerines and higher land-bird assemblage are terms of traditional, pre-cladistic taxonomy that have often been given to tree-dwelling birds or those most often believed to be related to the true passerines owing to morphological and ecological similarities; the group corresponds to some extent with the Anomalogonatae of Alfred Henry Garrod.
The mesites (Mesitornithidae) are a family of birds that are part of a clade (Columbimorphae) that include Columbiformes and Pterocliformes. They are smallish flightless or near flightless birds endemic to Madagascar. They are the only family with more than two species in which every species is threatened.
Neoaves is a clade that consists of all modern birds with the exception of Palaeognathae and Galloanserae. Almost 95% of the roughly 10,000 known species of extant birds belong to the Neoaves.
Mirandornithes is a clade that consists of flamingos and grebes. Many scholars use the term Phoenicopterimorphae for the superorder containing flamingoes and grebes.
Aequornithes, or core water birds, are defined as "the least inclusive clade containing Gaviidae and Phalacrocoracidae".
The order Falconiformes is represented by the extant family Falconidae and a handful of enigmatic Paleogene species. Traditionally, the other bird of prey families Cathartidae, Sagittariidae (secretarybird), Pandionidae (ospreys), Accipitridae (hawks) were classified in Falconiformes. A variety of comparative genome analysis published since 2008, however, found that falcons are part of a clade of birds called Australaves, which also includes seriemas, parrots and passerines. Within Australaves falcons are more closely related to the parrot-passerine clade (Psittacopasserae), which together they form the clade Eufalconimorphae. The hawks and vultures occupy a basal branch in the clade Afroaves in their own clade Accipitrimorphae, closer to owls and woodpeckers.
Psittacopasseres is a taxon of birds consisting of the Passeriformes and Psittaciformes (parrots). Per Ericson and colleagues, in analysing genomic DNA, revealed a lineage comprising passerines, psittacines and Falconiformes. The group was proposed following an alignment of nuclear intron sequences by Shannon Hackett et al. in 2008. It was formally named as Psittacopasserae in a 2011 Nature Communications article by Alexander Suh and other authors working with Jürgen Schmitz's group, based on genetic analysis of the insertion of retroposons into the genomes of key avian lineages over the course of evolution during the Mesozoic Era.
Eufalconimorphae is a proposed clade of birds, consisting of passerines, parrots, falcons, caracaras, and forest falcons. It has whole-genome DNA support. Eufalconimorphae birds are characterized by their strong and hooked beaks, sharp talons, and powerful wings. They have excellent eyesight, which allows them to spot their prey from great distances. The Eufalconimorphae is noted to produce aerodynamic force during the upstroke of flight to help create a vertical flight pattern.
Australaves is a recently defined clade of birds, consisting of the Eufalconimorphae as well as the Cariamiformes. They appear to be the sister group of Afroaves. As in the case of Afroaves, the most basal clades have predatory extant members, suggesting this was the ancestral lifestyle; however, some researchers like Darren Naish are skeptical of this assessment, since some extinct representatives such as the herbivorous Strigogyps led other lifestyles. Basal parrots and falcons are at any rate vaguely crow-like and probably omnivorous.
Telluraves is a recently defined clade of birds defined by their arboreality. Based on most recent genetic studies, the clade unites a variety of bird groups, including the australavians as well as the afroavians. They appear to be the sister group of the Phaethoquornithes.
Gruimorphae is a clade of birds that contains the orders Charadriiformes and Gruiformes identified by molecular analysis. This grouping has had historical support, as various charadriiform families such as the families Pedionomidae and Turnicidae were classified as gruiforms. It may also have support from the fossil record since the discovery of Nahmavis from the Early Eocene of North America.
Eurypygimorphae or Phaethontimorphae is a clade of birds that contains the orders Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds) and Eurypygiformes recovered by genome analysis. The relationship was first identified in 2013 based on their nuclear genes. 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. More recent molecular studies support their grouping together in Eurypygimorphae, which is usually recovered as the sister taxon to Aequornithes within Ardeae.
Otidimorphae is a clade of birds that contains the orders Cuculiformes (cuckoos), Musophagiformes (turacos), and Otidiformes (bustards) identified in 2014 by genome analysis. While the bustards seem to be related to the turacos, other genetic studies have found the cuckoos to be closer to the bustards than the turacos are.
Austrodyptornithes is a clade of birds that include the orders Sphenisciformes (penguins) and Procellariiformes. A 2014 analysis of whole genomes of 48 representative bird species concluded that penguins are the sister group of Procellariiformes, from which they diverged about 60 million years ago.
Columbimorphae is a clade discovered by genome analysis that includes birds of the orders Columbiformes, Pterocliformes (sandgrouse), and Mesitornithiformes (mesites). Previous analyses had also recovered this grouping, although the exact relationships differed. Some studies indicated a sister relationship between sandgrouse and pigeons while other studies favored a sister grouping of mesites and sandgrouse instead.
Columbaves is a clade that contains Columbimorphae and Otidimorphae discovered by genomic analysis by Prum et al. (2015). This conflicts with the Columbea and Otidae hypotheses which Mirandornithes are the sister taxon to Columbimorphae and Cypselomorphae the sister taxon to Otidimorphae, respectively, found by Jarvis et al. (2014). Neither hypothesis supports the two subdivisions of Metaves and Coronoaves as previous studies had found.
Aequorlitornithes is a clade of waterbirds recovered in a comprehensive genomic systematic study using nearly 200 species in 2015. It contains the clades Charadriiformes, Mirandornithes and Phaethoquornithes. Previous studies have found different placement for the clades in the tree.
Pangalloanserae is a clade of birds defined in a 2001 study by Jacques Gauthier and Kevin de Queiroz as "most inclusive clade containing Galloanserae but not Neoaves". It contains crown Galloanserae as well as all stem-galloanserans.
Pelecanimorphae is a clade of aequornithean birds that comprises the orders Ciconiiformes, Suliformes and Pelecaniformes. In the past the name has been used as a homonym for Pelecaniformes.
Litusilvanae is a proposed clade of birds, position as the sister clade to Aequorlitornithes. This clade comprises Gruimorphae and Strisores. While different lines of evidence from molecular, morphology and the fossil record has found support in the clades Gruimorphae and Strisores Wu et al. (2024) was the first to find support in such a novel sister group relationship between these two taxa.
