Avialae

Avialae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
(unranked):	Paraves

Avialae is a term for birds and their immediate extinct ancestors. It is a clade of dinosaurs containing their only living representatives (birds) and whatever coelurosaurs are regarded as their ancestors. There are two ways it can be defined:

Definition by physical characters

Avialae is defined as a clade based on physical characteristics. Jacques Gauthier named Avialae in 1986 as all dinosaurs that possessed feathered wings used in flapping flight, and the birds that descended from them.^[1]^[2]

Branch-based definition

Several other authors use a similar, but branch-based, definition: all theropods closer to birds than to Deinonychus.^[3]^[4]

Avialae Media

Jeholornis mmartyniuk wiki (fipped)
Confuciusornis sanctus mmartyniuk
Meyers grosses Konversations-Lexikon - ein Nachschlagewerk des allgemeinen Wissens (1908) (Antwerpener Breiftaube)

References

↑ Gauthier, J. 1986. Saurischian monophyly and the origin of birds. In: K. Padian ed. The origin of birds and the evolution of flight. San Francisco: California, Acad.Sci. pp.1–55. (Mem.Calif.Acad.Sci.8.)
↑ Gauthier J. and de Queiroz K. 2001. Feathered dinosaurs, flying dinosaurs, crown dinosaurs, and the name Aves. 7-41 in New perspectives on the origin and early evolution of birds: proceedings of the International Symposium in Honor of John H. Ostrom (J.A. Gauthier and L.F. Gall eds) Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
↑ Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds) 2004. The Dinosauria. 2nd ed, University of California Press.
↑ Senter P. 2007. A new look at the phylogeny of Coelurosauria (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, (doi:10.1017/S1477201907002143).

[gauthier1986-1] Gauthier, J. 1986. Saurischian monophyly and the origin of birds. In: K. Padian ed. The origin of birds and the evolution of flight. San Francisco: California, Acad.Sci. pp.1–55. (Mem.Calif.Acad.Sci.8.)

[gauthier.26dequeiroz2001-2] Gauthier J. and de Queiroz K. 2001. Feathered dinosaurs, flying dinosaurs, crown dinosaurs, and the name Aves. 7-41 in New perspectives on the origin and early evolution of birds: proceedings of the International Symposium in Honor of John H. Ostrom (J.A. Gauthier and L.F. Gall eds) Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

[weishampel2004-3] Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds) 2004. The Dinosauria. 2nd ed, University of California Press.

[senter2007-4] Senter P. 2007. A new look at the phylogeny of Coelurosauria (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, (doi:10.1017/S1477201907002143).

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