Telluraves (also called land birds or core landbirds) is a recently defined[2] clade of birds defined by their arboreality.[3] Based on most recent genetic studies, the clade unites a variety of bird groups, including the australavians (passerines, parrots, seriemas, and falcons) as well as the afroavians (including the Accipitrimorphae – eagles, hawks, buzzards, vultures etc. – owls and woodpeckers, among others).[4] They appear to be the sister group of the Phaethoquornithes.[5]
Given that the most basal extant members of both Afroaves (Accipitrimorphae, Strigiformes) and Australaves (Cariamiformes, Falconiformes) are carnivorous, it has been suggested that the last common ancestor of all Telluraves was probably a predator.[5] Other researchers are skeptical of this assessment, citing the herbivorous cariamiform Strigogyps as evidence to the contrary.[6]
Afroaves has not always been recovered as a monophyletic clade in subsequent studies.[7] For instance, Prum et al. (2015) recovered the accipitrimorphs as the sister group to a clade (Eutelluraves) comprising the remaining Afroavian orders and Australaves.,[8] while an analysis by Houde et al. (2019) recovered a clade of accipitrimorphs and owls as sister to the remaining landbirds.[9] Wu et al. (2024) also found recovered and found support the clade of accipitrimorphs and owls (which they have named Hieraves), but found the clade to be sister to Australaves, while Coraciimorphae is the basal most clade in Telluraves.[10]
Telluraves
Accipitrimorphae
Cathartiformes (New World vultures)
Accipitriformes (hawks and relatives)
Strigiformes (owls)
Coraciimorphae
Coliiformes (mouse birds)
Cavitaves
Leptosomiformes (cuckoo roller)
Trogoniformes (trogons and quetzals)
Picocoraciae
Bucerotiformes (hornbills and relatives)
Picodynastornithes
Coraciiformes (kingfishers and relatives)
Piciformes (woodpeckers and relatives)
Australaves
Cariamiformes (seriemas and terror birds)
Eufalconimorphae
Falconiformes (falcons)
Psittacopasserae
Psittaciformes (parrots)
Passeriformes (passerines)
Cladogram of Telluraves relationships based on Braun & Kimball (2021)[11]
^Daniel T. Ksepka; Thomas A. Stidham; Thomas E. Williamson (2017). "Early Paleocene landbird supports rapid phylogenetic and morphological diversification of crown birds after the K–Pg mass extinction". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 114 (30): 8047–8052. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114.8047K. doi:10.1073/pnas.1700188114. PMC 5544281. PMID 28696285.
^Crouch, N.M.A.; Ramanauskas, K.; Igić, B. (2019). "Tip-dating and the origin of Telluraves". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 131: 55–63. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.006. PMID 30385308. S2CID 53767029.
^Ericson, P. G. (2012). "Evolution of terrestrial birds in three continents: biogeography and parallel radiations" (PDF). Journal of Biogeography. 39 (5): 813–824. Bibcode:2012JBiog..39..813E. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02650.x. S2CID 85599747. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-30.
^ abJarvis, E. D.; Mirarab, S.; Aberer, A. J.; Li, B.; Houde, P.; Li, C.; Ho, S. Y. W.; Faircloth, B. C.; Nabholz, B.; Howard, J. T.; Suh, A.; Weber, C. C.; Da Fonseca, R. R.; Li, J.; Zhang, F.; Li, H.; Zhou, L.; Narula, N.; Liu, L.; Ganapathy, G.; Boussau, B.; Bayzid, M. S.; Zavidovych, V.; Subramanian, S.; Gabaldon, T.; Capella-Gutierrez, S.; Huerta-Cepas, J.; Rekepalli, B.; Munch, K.; et al. (2014). "Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds" (PDF). Science. 346 (6215): 1320–1331. Bibcode:2014Sci...346.1320J. doi:10.1126/science.1253451. hdl:10072/67425. PMC 4405904. PMID 25504713.
^Mayr, Gerald; Richter, Gotthard (2011). "Exceptionally preserved plant parenchyma in the digestive tract indicates a herbivorous diet in the Middle Eocene bird Strigogyps sapea (Ameghinornithidae)". Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 85 (3): 303–307. Bibcode:2011PalZ...85..303M. doi:10.1007/s12542-010-0094-5. S2CID 84479974.
^Kuhl., H.; Frankl-Vilches, C.; Bakker, A.; Mayr, G.; Nikolaus, G.; Boerno, S. T.; Klages, S.; Timmermann, B.; Gahr, M. (2020). "An unbiased molecular approach using 3'-UTRs resolves the avian family-level tree of life". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 38: 108–127. doi:10.1093/molbev/msaa191. PMC 7783168. PMID 32781465.
^Prum, R.O. et al. (2015) A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing. Nature 526, 569–573.
^Houde, Peter; Braun, Edward L.; Narula, Nitish; Minjares, Uriel; Mirarab, Siavash (2019). "Phylogenetic signal of indels and the Neoavian radiation". Diversity. 11 (7): 108. doi:10.3390/d11070108.
^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.
^Braun, Edward L.; Kimball, Rebecca T. (2021). "Data types and the phylogeny of Neoaves". Birds. 2 (1): 1–22. doi:10.3390/birds2010001.
Australaves, while Coraciimorphae is the basal most clade in Telluraves. Cladogram of Telluraves relationships based on Braun & Kimball (2021) Daniel T. Ksepka;...
landbird clade (Telluraves). The groups defined by Reddy et al. (2017) are as follows: The "magnificent seven" supraordinal clades: Telluraves (landbirds)...
the clade Telluraves, most closely related to the Accipitrimorphae and the Coraciimorphae, although the exact placement within Telluraves is disputed...
owls" Tytonidae: barn and bay owls Below is a simplified phylogeny of Telluraves which is the clade where the birds of prey belong to along with passerines...
Accipitrimorphae or Accipitriformes, these birds belong to the clade Telluraves. Cladogram based on Jarvis et al. (2014). Mayr G, Smith T. A diverse bird...
(2024), it is one of the four major subclades of Neoaves and sister to Telluraves. Stiller J, et al. (2024). "Complexity of avian evolution revealed by...
are at any rate vaguely crow-like and probably omnivorous. Cladogram of Telluraves relationships based on Kuhl et al. (2020) and Braun & Kimball (2021) Boles...
predatory, it is inferred that the common ancestor of 'core landbirds' (Telluraves) was an apex predator. However, some researchers like Darren Naish feel...
Accipitrimorphae, closer to owls and woodpeckers. See below cladogram of Telluraves relationships based on Braun & Kimball (2021): The fossil record of Falconiformes...
were recovered as a basal clade in respect to the rest of the members of Telluraves. Houde and Braun (2019) found support for Hieraves (then unnamed), but...
make up the Australaves. Sister to the Australaves are the Afroaves (see Telluraves). The phylogenetic relationships between the orders are: List of birds...
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