Apodiformes

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Apodiformes
Temporal range:
Late Paleocene
to present
Bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae), the smallest bird in the World
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Clade: Strisores
Clade: Daedalornithes
Order: Apodiformes
Peters
, 1940
Families
Range of the swifts and hummingbirds.
Synonyms
  • Trochiliformes Wagler, 1830

Traditionally, the

Trochiliformes. With nearly 450 species identified to date, they are the most diverse order of birds after the passerines
.

Description

As their name ("footless" in Greek) suggests, their legs are small and have limited function aside from perching. The feet are covered with bare skin rather than the scales (scutes) that other birds have. Another shared characteristic is long wings with short, stout humerus bones.[1] The evolution of these wing characteristics has provided the hummingbird with ideal wings for hovering.[2]

The hummingbirds, swifts, and treeswifts (also known as crested swifts) share other anatomical similarities with one another, as well as similarities (notably as to the skull) with their probable closest living relatives, the

Cypselomorphae with the Apodiformes.[2]

Evolution

The Apodiformes evolved in the Northern Hemisphere.

symplesiomorphy
. Most researchers believe that presently this genus cannot be unequivocally assigned to either the Apodiformes or the Caprimulgiformes.

The Early Eocene

Caucasus mountains and the Alps did not exist yet and aegialornithids were possibly present in North America.[6]
By the late Eocene (around 35
MYA), primitive hummingbirds started to diverge from the related jungornithids; the Middle Eocene Parargornis (Messel, Germany) and the Late Eocene Argornis, found in today's southernmost Russia, belong to this lineage. Cypselavus
(Late Eocene – Early Oligocene of Quercy, France) was either a primitive hemiprocnid or an aegialornithid.

The placement of the Aegialornithidae is not quite clear. Various analyses place them sufficiently close to the Apodiformes to be included here, or into the unique owlet-nightjar lineage in the Cypselomorphae.

Taxonomy

Phylogeny of Apodiformes[7]

Aegialornithidae

Apodi

Laputavis

Hemiprocnidae

Scaniacypselus

Apodidae

Trochili

Cypselavidae

Jungornithidae

Trochilidae

ORDER APODIFORMES

See also

References

  1. ^
  2. ^ Mayr, Gerald (2002): Osteological evidence for paraphyly of the avian order Caprimulgiformes (nightjars and allies). Journal für Ornithologie 143: 82–97. PDF fulltext
  3. .
  4. ^ Christopher R. Scotese. "During the Early Cenozoic India began to Collide with Asia". Paleomap project. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
  5. ^ Somewhat doubtful, as this is difficult to reconcile with the other aegialornithid fossils and Primapus.
  6. ^ Haaramo, Mikko. "Apodiformes – housemartins, hummingbirds, and relatives". Mikko's Phylogeny Archive. Retrieved 30 December 2017.