Avialae
Clade including all birds and their ancestors / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Avialae ("bird wings") is a clade containing the only living dinosaurs, the birds, and their ancestors. It is usually defined as all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds (Aves) than to deinonychosaurs, though alternative definitions are occasionally used (see below).
Avialans | |
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Fossil specimen of Jeholornis prima | |
Collage of four extant birds. Clockwise from top-left: Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti), common ostrich (Struthio camelus), mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), and common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Clade: | Pennaraptora |
Clade: | Paraves |
Clade: | Avialae Gauthier, 1986 |
Subgroups | |
Archaeopteryx lithographica, from the late Jurassic Period Solnhofen Formation of Germany, is usually considered the earliest known avialan which may have had the capability of powered flight,[4] a minority of studies have suggested that it might have been a deinonychosaur instead.[5] Several older (but non flight-capable) possible avialans are known from the late Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of China, dated to about 160 million years ago.[6][7]