Avebrevicaudans Temporal range: Early Cretaceous–Present, 131–0 Ma |
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Fossil specimen of Sapeornis chaoyangensis, Hong Kong Science Museum | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Order: | Saurischia |
Suborder: | Theropoda |
Clade: | Euavialae |
Clade: | Avebrevicauda Paul, 2002 |
Subgroups | |
Avebrevicauda (meaning "birds with short tails") is a group which includes all avialan species with ten or fewer free vertebrae in the tail. The group was named in 2002 by Gregory S. Paul to distinguish short-tailed avialans from their ancestors, such as Archaeopteryx, which had long, reptilian tails.[1]
Cladogram following the results of a phylogenetic study by Lefèvre et al., 2014:[2]
Euavialae |
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References[edit]
- ^ Paul, G.S. (2002). Dinosaurs of the Air. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 460 pp.
- ^ Lefèvre, U.; Hu, D.; Escuillié, F. O.; Dyke, G.; Godefroit, P. (2014). "A new long-tailed basal bird from the Lower Cretaceous of north-eastern China". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 113 (3): 790–804. doi:10.1111/bij.12343.