Australaves
Clade of birds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Australaves is a clade of birds,[3] defined in 2012,[4] consisting of the Eufalconimorphae (passerines, parrots and falcons) as well as the Cariamiformes (including seriemas and the extinct "terror birds").[5] They appear to be the sister group of Afroaves.[5] This clade was defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Cariama cristata and Passer domesticus".[6]
| Australaves | |
|---|---|
| |
| Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Clade: | Telluraves |
| Clade: | Australaves Ericson, 2012 |
| Clades | |
Location
The clade's name, meaning 'southern birds', reflects the group's evolutionary origins in the Southern Hemisphere: passerines and parrots in Australia, and falcons and seriemas in South America.[4]
As in the case of Afroaves, the most basal clades have predatory extant members, suggesting this was the ancestral lifestyle;[7] however, some researchers like Darren Naish are skeptical of this assessment, since some extinct representatives such as the herbivorous Strigogyps led other lifestyles.[8] Basal parrots and falcons are at any rate vaguely crow-like and probably omnivorous.[9]
Relations
| Australaves |
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Cladogram of Telluraves relationships based on Kuhl et al. (2020) and Braun & Kimball (2021)[2][10]