| Aquaterraves Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (Campanian) – Recent
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Snowy egret (Egretta thula) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Clade: | Neoaves |
| Clade: | Aquaterraves Wu et al., 2024 |
| Clades | |
Aquaterraves is a proposed clade of birds, located at the base of the neoavian radiation as sister to Telluraves. The 2024 study that recovered the clade found it to include two strongly supported branches, Aequorlitornithes (including core waterbirds Aequornithes and their relatives) and the newly established Litusilvanae (uniting Charadriiformes, Gruiformes, and Caprimulgimorphae), as well a third branch containing Columbiformes and related taxa that have had an unstable position in previous phylogenomic studies.[1]
- ^ Wu, S.; Rheindt, F.E.; Zhang, J.; Wang, J.; Zhang, L.; Quan, C.; Zhiheng, L.; Wang, M.; Wu, F.; Qu, Y; Edwards, S.V.; Zhou, Z.; Liu, L. (2024). "Genomes, fossils, and the concurrent rise of modern birds and flowering plants in the Late Cretaceous". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 121 (8). doi:10.1073/pnas.2319696121. PMC 10895254.