Taxonomy and Systematics
For long the Neognathae were ranked as a superorder and not subdivided any further. Attempts to do so, for example in the Conspectus of Charles Lucien Bonaparte, were never accepted even by a significant majority of ornithologists. Indeed, until the 1980s there was little subdivision of the Aves in general, and even less of phylogenetic merit. Since then the availability of massive amounts of new data from fossils (especially Enantiornithes and other Mesozoic birds) as well as molecular (DNA and protein) sequences allowed scientists to refine the classification. With new groups of neognath orders being verified, the taxonomic rank of the group needed to shift. In fact, most researchers have by now employed the unranked taxa of phylogenetic nomenclature.
The Neognathae are universally accepted to subdivide into two lineages, the "fowl" clade Galloanseres and the Neoaves (sometimes called "higher neognaths"). The subdivisions of the latter are still not well resolved, but several monophyletic lineages have been proposed, such as the Mirandornithes, Cypselomorphae or Metaves and Coronaves. While groups such as the former two (uniting a few closely related orders) are robustly supported, this cannot be said for the Metaves-Coronaves division for which there is no material evidence at present while the Mesozoic record of Neognathae is at present utterly devoid of birds that would have to be present if these proposed clades were real.
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Domestic chicken belong to the fowl clade, Galloanserae.
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Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva), part of the diverse and ancient Charadriiformes.
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Black Kites (Milvus migrans) like other accipitrids have peculiar chromosomes. This has much confounded molecular phylogeny.
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Male Red Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea rubra) - a spectacular passerine.
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The Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus), among the closest living relatives of flamingos.
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