After Marya´nska, Osmólska & Wolsan, 2002, Paul, 2002 and Zhou & Zheng, 2002b
<==o Avialae Gauthier 1986 sensu Chiappe, 1995, Chiappe, Ji, Ji & Norell, 1999 and Marya´nska, Osmólska & Wolsan, 2002 |?- †Therizinosauroidea Maleev, 1954 [Segnosauria Perle, 1979 sensu Barsbold & Perle, 1980; Segnosaurischia] (segnosaurit; segnosaurs i. e. therizinosaurs) `--o Aves Linnaeus, 1758 (linnut, birds) |?- †Wyleyia valdensis Harrison & Walker, 1973 [nomen dubium] |--o †Archaeopterygidae Huxley, 1871 [Arachaeopterygiformes] | `-- †Archaeopteryx lithographica Meyer, 1861 [Synonyms] (liskolintu; urvogel) `--+?- †Rahonavis ostromi (Forster, Sampson, Chiappe & Krause, 1998a) [Rahona ostromi Forster, Sampson, Chiappe & Krause, 1998a] |-- †Jeholornis prima Zhou & Zhang, 2002b |-- †Deinonychosauria sensu Xu, Norell, Wang, Makovicky & Wu, 2002 `--o Metornithes Chiappe, 1995 |-- †Oviraptorosauria Barsbold, 1976b sensu Marya´nska, Osmólska & Wolsan, 2002 `--o Avebrevicauda Paul, 2002 (pygostyliset linnut) |-- †Sapeornis chaoyangensis Zhou & Zhang, 2002a `--o Pygostylia Chatterjee, 1997 |--o †Confuciusornithidae Hou et al., 1995 | |-- †Changchengornis hengdaoziensis Ji et al., 1998 | `-- †Confuciusornis sanctus Hou et al., 1995 [Synonyms] `--o Ornithothoraces (modern rib-cased birds) |-- †Enantiornithes Walker, 1981 [Enantiornithomorpha Chiappe et al. 1999] ("opposite birds") `-- Ornithuromorpha Chiappe et al. 1999 [Ornithurae Haeckel, 1866 sensu Feduccia 1996] (modernlike birds; nykylintumaiset linnut)
Note:
A recent phylogenetic analysis by Marya`nska et al. (2002), finally formalizes something that has been in the air last 15 years, ever since Gregory S. Paul published his book "Predatory Dinosaurs of the World" (1988). Greg has further elaboreted this view in his most recent book "Dinosaurs of the Air".
In their analysis Marya`nska et al., boldly point out that Oviraptors, which has been considerd as closely related, but primally flightless relatives of Avialae, are actually secondarily flightless and within Avialea as flightless birds!
In their analysis, Marya`nska et al., don't include Ornithothoracine birds, thus I have been forced to regard that they think that oviraptors are a sister group of Avebrevicauda as defined by Paul (2002)
Recent found of a long-tailed, dromaeosaur-like bird, Jeholornis and famous four-winged dromaeosaur Microraptor gui, gives more concrete evidence to support Greg's view of a secondarily flightless dino-birds.
Reference(s):
- Britt, B. B., Makovicky, P. J., Gauthier, J. & Bonde, N. 1998: Postcranial pneumatization in Archaeopteryx.
–Nature: vol. 395, 24 September, pp. 374-376. - Chiappe, L. M. 1995: The first 85 million years of avian evolution.
–Nature: vol. 378, 23 November, pp. 349-355 - Chiappe, L. M., Norell, M. A. & Clark, J. M. 1998: The skull of a relative of the stem-group bird Mononykus.
–Nature: vol. 392, 19 March, pp. 275-278. - Chiappe, L. M., Ji, Q. & Ji, S. 1998: Temporal morphology of the early bird Confuciusornis and its bearing on the evolution of avian cranial kinesis.
–Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: vol. 18, #3, suppl. to #3, pp. 33A - Chiappe, L. M., Ji, Shu'an, Ji, Qiang & Norell, M. A., 1999: Anatomy and systematics of the Confuciusornithidae (Theropoda: Aves) from the Late Mesozoic of Northeastern China.
–Bulletin of American Museum of Natural History: n:o 242, 1-89 - Clarke, J. A., 2000: A new avialan from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia.
–Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol. 20, #3, suppl. to #3, 36A - Elzanowski, A. & Wellnhofer, P., 1996: Cranial morphology of Archaeopteryx: Evidence from the seventh skeleton.
–Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol. 16, #1, pp. 81-94 - Feduccia, A., 1980: The age of birds.
–Harvard University Press, Cembridge, Massachusetts & London, England, 1980, ix-196 - Feduccia, A. 1993: Evidence from claw geometry indicating arboreal habits of Archaeopteryx.
–Science: vol. 259, 5 February, pp. 790-793. - Feduccia, A. 1995: Explosive evolution in Tertiary birds and mammals.
–Science: vol. 267, 3 February, pp. 637-638. - Feduccia, A. 1996: The origin and evolution of birds.
–Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1996. xii-420. - Forster, C. A., Sampson, S. D., Chiappe, L. M. & Krause, D. W., 1998: The theropod ancestery of birds: new evidence from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar.
–Science: Vol. 279, pp. 1915-1919 - Gibbons, A. 1996: Early birds rise from China fossil beds.
–Science: vol. 274, 15 November, p. 1083. - Hou, L., Martin, L. D., Zhou, Z. & Feduccia, A. 1996: Early adaptive radiation of birds: Evidence from fossils from Northwestern China.
–Science: vol. 274, 15 November, pp. 1164-1167. - Hou, L., Martin, L. D., Zhou, Z., Feduccia, A. & Zhang, F., 1999: A diapsid skull in a new species of the primitive bird Confuciusornis.
–Nature: vol. 399, 17 June, pp. 679-682. - Keesey, T. M., 1996-2000: The Dinosauricon.
–iNet: http://dinosauricon.com/ - Marya´nska, T., Osmólska, H. & Wolsan, M., 2002: Avialan status for Oviraptorosauria.
–Acta Palaeontologica Polonica: Vol. 47, #1, pp. 97-116 - Milner, A. C. 1993: Ground rules for early birds.
–Nature: vol. 362, 15 April, p. 589. - Morell, V. 1993: Archaeopteryx: Early bird catches a can of worms.
–Science: vol. 256, 5 February, pp. 764-765. - Novas, F. E. & Puerta, P. F. 1997: New evidence concerning avian origins from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia.
–Nature: vol. 387, 22 May, pp. 390-392. - Padian, K. 1996: Early bird in slow motion.
–Nature: vol. 382, 1 August, pp. 400-401. - Padian, K. 1998: When is a bird not a bird?
–Nature: vol. 393, 25 June, pp. 729-730. - Paul, G. S., 2002: Dinosaurs of the Air: the evolution and loss of flight in dinosaurs and birds.
–Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2002, ix-460 - Sanz, J. L., Chiappe, L. M., Pérez-Moreno, B. P., Buscalioni, A. D., Moratalia, J. J., Ortega, F. & Poyato-Ariza, F. J. 1996: An Early Cretaceous bird from spain and it's implications for the evolution of avian flight.
–Nature: vol. 382, 1 August, pp. 442-445. - Sereno, P. C. & Chenggang, R. 1992: Early evolution af Avian fligth and perching: new evidence from the Lower Cretaceous of China.
–Science: vol. 255, 14 February, pp. 845-848. - Whetstone, K. N. 1983: Braincase of Mesozoic birds: I. New Preparation of the “London” Archaeopteryx.
–Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: vol. 2, #4,, pp. 439-452. - Zhou Z. H. & Zhang, F. -C., 2002a: Largest bird from the Early Cretaceous and its implications for the earliest avian ecological diversification.
–Naturwissenschaften: Vol. 89, #1, pp. 34-38 - Zhou, Z. H., & Zhang, F.-C., 2002b: A long-tailed, seed-eating bird from the Early Cretaceous of China.
–Nature: Vol. 418, July 26, pp. 405 - 409