†Sandcoleiformes

After Olson, 1985 and Feduccia, 1996

Note:

†Sandcoleiformes, a new order of Paleogene birds found from Green River Formation (USA), London Clay (England), Messel (Germany) and Phosphorites of Quercy (France) was established by Olson and Houde (1992). It was considered as a sistergroup of Coliiformes by original descriptors and Alan Feduccia (1996).

Many recent works by Gerard Mayr and his associates, especially Cécile Mourer-Chauviré, has demonstrated that Sandcoleiformes as defined by Houde and Olson is in fact a polyphyletic assemblage of primitive members of atleast three separate orders of modern birds, Psittaciformes, Coraciiformes and Coliiformes.

Currently the only sandcoleiforms not yet associated with other orders are Botauroides parvus and “Neanis” kistneri, which were included to Primobucconidae by Feduccia (1996).

<==o †Sandcoleiformes
   |--o †Sandcoleidae [included to †Sandcoleidae and moved to Coliiformes (Mayr & Mourer-Chauviré, 2004)]
   |  |-- †Selmes absurdipes Peters, 1999
   |  |-- †Sandcoleus copiosus Houde & Olson, 1992
   |  |-- †Chascacocolius oscitans Houde & Olson, 1992
   |  |-- †Anneavis anneae Houde & Olson, 1992
   |  |-- †Eoglaucidium pallas Fischer, 1987
   |  `-- †Eobucco brodkorbi Feduccia & Martin, 1976
   `?-o †Primobucconidae Feduccia & Martin, 1976 [removed to Coraciiformes s.s. and contained to genus †Primobucco Brodkorb, 1970 (Mayr, Mourer-Chauviré and Weidig, 2004)]
      |?- †“Neanis” kistneri
      |?- †“Primobucco” olsoni Feduccia & Martin, 1976 [removed to Pseudasturidae [Psittaciformes] by Mayr (1998)]
      |?- †Primobucconidae genera et species indet. [Mayr, Mourer-Chauviré and Weidig, 2004]
      |?-o†Primobucco Brodkorb, 1970 [removed to Coraciiformes s.s. (Mayr, Mourer-Chauviré and Weidig, 2004)]
      |  |-- †P. mcgrewi Brodkorb, 1970
      |  |-- †P. perneri Mayr, Mourer-Chauviré and Weidig, 2004
      |  `-- †P. frugilegus Mayr, Mourer-Chauviré and Weidig, 2004
      |?- †Botauroides parvus
      `?-o †Uintornis Marsh, 1872 [included to †Sandcoleidae and moved to Coliiformes (Mayr & Mourer-Chauviré, 2004)]
         |-- †U. lucaris Brodkorb, 1971
         `-- †U. marionae

Reference(s):

Feduccia, A., 1996: The origin and evolution of birds.
–Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1996, xii-420
Olson, S. L., 1985: The fossil record of birds. 79-239.
in Farner, D., King, J. & Parkes, K. (eds.), 1985: Avian Biology. vol VIII.
–Academic Press, New York. 1985.
Mayr, G. & Mourer-Chauviré, C., 2004: Unusual tarsometatarsus of a mousebird from the Paleocene of France and the relationships of Selmes Peters, 1999.
–Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol. 24, #2, pp. 366-372
Mayr, G., Mourer-Chauviré, C. & Weidig, I., 2004: Osteology and systematic position of the Eocene Primobucconidae (Aves, Coraciiformes sensu stricto), with first records from Europe.
–Journal of Systematic Palaeontology: Vol. 2, #1, pp. 1-12

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