A cladogram in a short paper on bird origins introduced, as labeled branch points, seven new higher taxa (Ji and Ji 2001:fig. 1). None of these taxa (Metatheropoda, Aptilonia, Eoptilonia, Chuniaoia, Dromavialae, Aerialae, Orthornithes) were given definitions or discussed further. Chuniaoia was placed on the branch leading to Protarchaeopteryx. In this capacity, it is redundant with that monotypic genus. Elsewhere (Ji et al. 1998:suppl. information) it was used to unite Caudipteryx and Aves.