Phylogeny of Neoaves (MDPI)

Just recently (July 2021) I started to search for any recent advances on bird taxonomy beyond the original Nature (October 2015) and Science (December 2014) articles, and found the following one on the taxonomy of Neoaves (i.e. all birds apart from the Galloanseres and Paleognathae) published by MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) in January 2021:

Data Types and the Phylogeny of Neoaves

In essence it comes up with a variety of alternative permutations to the phylogenies of earlier publications, but six of the seven main groups (Telluraves, Aequornithes, Phaethontimorphae, Otidimorphae, Strisores and Mirandornithes) appear to stand firm. The three unresolved orders (Opisthocoformes, Charadriiformes and Gruiformes) remain so, in that various parts of the genome appear to place them in different parts of the taxonomic tree. The only contentious group from previous studies is Columbaves (Musophagiformes, Cuculiformes, Otidiformes, Columbiformes, Pteroclidiformes, Mesitornithiformes), since the grouping [Columbiformes + Pteroclidiformes + Mesitornithiformes] at times gets allied to the [Musophagiformes + Cuculiformes + Otidiformes] grouping, and at other times to the [Phoenicopteriformes + Podicipediformes] grouping.

Hence the broad brush-stroke of the Neoaves taxonomy looks as follows:

  • Group I – Core landbirds Telluraves (passerines, parrots, falcons, seriemas, rollers, woodpeckers, hornbills, trogons, cuckoo-roller, mousebirds, owls, hawks & eagles, new world vultures)
    • Subgroup Ia – Australaves (passerines, parrots, falcons, seriemas)
    • Subgroup Ib – Coraciimorphae (rollers, woodpeckers, hornbills, trogons, cuckoo-roller, mousebirds)
    • Subgroup unresolved – owls
    • Subgroup Ic – Accipitrimorphae (hawks & eagles, new world vultures)
  • Group II – Core waterbirds Aequornithes (pelicans, cormorants, storks, penguins, tubenoses, loons)
  • Group III – Phaethontimorphae (sunbittern, tropicbird)
  • Group Unresolved #1 – hoatzin
  • Group IV – Otidimorphae (cuckoos, bustards, turacos)
  • Group V – Strisores (hummingbirds & swifts, owlet-nightjars, frogmouths, oilbird, potoos, nightjar)
  • Group Unresolved #2 – shorebirds
  • Group Unresolved #3 – cranes & rails
  • Group VI – Columbimorphae (mesites, sandgrouse, doves)
  • Group VII – Mirandornithes (flamingos, grebes)
Consensus topologies for Neoaves emphasizing the 'magnificent seven' and the 'indicator clades' that differ in trees resulting from analyses of (A) non-coding vs. (B) coding data
Consensus topologies for Neoaves emphasizing the ‘magnificent seven’ and the ‘indicator clades’ that differ in trees resulting from analyses of (A) non-coding vs. (B) coding data