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Clade
Subclade

Taxon
Taxon
Avialae
Nominal Author
Gauthier 1986
2nd Nominal Author
Taxon Status INACTIVE
Comments
Potential Synonomy
Aves

Active Phylogenetic Definition
Active Definition
Shorthand
Definitional Author
Definition Status Unknown
Definition Type Unknown
Node-Stem Triplet Unknown
Other Triplet Taxa
Specifiers
Specifier(s) A
Specifier(s) B
Specifier(s) C
Qualifiers
+Taxon
-Taxon
Datum
Taxonomic Content
Publication Year Unknown
Unknown
Unknown

Inactive Taxon Status
Rejection Criteria other
Critique

Gauthier (1986) was first to propose a crown clade definition, later revised by Gauthier and de Queiroz (2001). In a particular sense (due to initial ignorance of any fossil record), they argued that this is the older tradition. Gauthier (1986) used Avialae to replace traditional Aves, although their phylogenetic definitions differ—one stem-based and the other node-based—so they are not synonyms. Gauthier (1986:36) explicitly defined Avialae as a stem-based taxon including all taxa closer to birds than to Deinonychosauria.

Subsequently, Gauthier and de Queiroz (2001:25-26) claimed that Gauthier (1986) really did not define Avialae. They proposed a form-qualified (“apomorphy-based”) definition based on the presence of “feathered wings . . . used for powered flight,” a definition that ranks among the most ambiguous. Gauthier (1986:36), nevertheless, was very explicit in formulating a stem-based definition for this taxon.

More recently, Clarke (2004) unwittingly proposed a new node-based definition for Avialae, attributing it in error to Gauthier (1986). Ironically, Clarke’s new definition now identifies the same node-based clade that many of us would like to continue to reserve for Aves.

If Aves is based on Archaeopteryx lithographica as the key internal specifier (as in this compilation), there is little sense to maintain another very similar taxon, Avialae, that currently, and in the forseeable future, has the same taxonomic content. Avialae is here regarded as inactive for this reason.

 

Definitional History #1
Earliest Record
Ornithurae plus all extict maniraptorans that are closer to Ornithurae than they are to Deinonychosauria.
Latest Record
Gauthier 1986:36
Range (My)
Range (My)
Ornithurae, Deinonychosauria
Range (My)

Definitional History #2
Earliest Record
The clade stemming from the first panavian with feathered wings homologous with those of Aves (Vultur gryphus) and used for powered flight.
Latest Record
Gautheir and de Queiroz 2001:25
Range (My)
Range (My)
Passer domesticus, Dromaeosaurus albertensis, Troodon formosus
Range (My)
feathered wings homologous with those of Aves (Vultur gryphus) and used for powered flight

Definitional History #3
Earliest Record
The most-inclusive clade containing Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) but not Dromaeosaurus albertensis Matthew and Brown, 1922 or Troodon formosus Leidy, 1956.
Latest Record
Maryanska et al. 2002:102
Range (My)
Range (My)
Passer domesticus, Dromaeosaurus albertensis, Troodon formosus
Range (My)

Definitional History #4
Earliest Record
The most recent common ancestor of Archaeopteryx + Aves and all of its descendants.
Latest Record
Clarke 2004:18
Range (My)
Range (My)
Archaeopteryx, Aves
Range (My)

Definitional History #5
Earliest Record
Living birds and all maniraptorans closer to them than to Deinonychus, a dromaeosaurid.
Latest Record
Padian 2004:210
Range (My)
Range (My)
living birds, Deinonychus
Range (My)

Definitional History #6
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)

Definitional History #7
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)

Definitional History #8
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)

Definitional History #9
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)

Definitional History #10
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)