The early diversification of the various neoavian groups occurred very rapidly around the
Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. A genomic study of 48 taxa by Jarvis and colleagues in 2014 divided Neoaves into two main clades,
Columbea and
Passerea, but an analysis of 198 taxa by Prum and colleagues in 2015 recovered different groupings for the earliest split in Neoaves. An analysis by Houde and colleagues in 2019 recovered Columbea and a reduced hard polytomy of six clades within Passerea. Despite other disagreements, these studies do agree on several supraordinal groups, which Reddy and colleagues in 2017 dubbed the "magnificent seven", which together with three "orphaned orders" make up Neoaves. Significantly, they both include a large waterbird clade (
Aequornithes) and a large landbird clade (
Telluraves). The groups defined by Reddy and colleagues (2017) are as follows: • The "magnificent seven" supraordinal clades: •
Telluraves (landbirds) •
Aequornithes (waterbirds) •
Eurypygimorphae (
sunbittern,
kagu and
tropicbirds) •
Otidimorphae (
turacos,
bustards and
cuckoos) •
Strisores (
nightjars,
swifts,
hummingbirds and allies) •
Columbimorphae (
mesites,
sandgrouse and
pigeons) •
Mirandornithes (
flamingos and
grebes) • The three orphaned orders: •
Opisthocomiformes (
hoatzin) •
Gruiformes (
cranes and
rails) •
Charadriiformes (
shorebirds,
gulls and
alcids) As such, the exact true phylogeny of Neoaves is not fully understood and can be represented as a polytomy. Here following Sanster and colleagues 2023, two clades of the magnificent seven, the Aequornithes and the Eurypygimorphae, are grouped together as the
Phaethoquornithes. This grouping is supported by most studies, but not by Reddy 2017: }}
Comparison of different proposals for neoavian radiation }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} |1=
Mirandornithes (flamingos, grebes) |style1=background-color:#eeccFF; |2= }}
Taxa above the magnificent seven and three orphaned orders These are controversial, and some contradict each other.
Phaethoquornithes seems to be the best-supported one. •
Aequorlitornithes •
Aquaterraves •
Columbaves •
Columbea •
Elementaves •
Inopinaves •
Gruae •
Gruimorphae •
Litusilvanae •
Otidae •
Passerea •
Phaethoquornithes ==References==