Pygostylia

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Pygostylians
Temporal range:
Ma
Fossil pygostylian (
Confuciusornis sanctus
)
House sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: Avialae
Clade: Avebrevicauda
Clade: Pygostylia
Chatterjee, 1997
Subgroups[2]

Pygostylia is a group of

avialans which includes the Confuciusornithidae and all of the more advanced species, the Ornithothoraces
.

Definition

The group Pygostylia was intended to encompass all avialans with a short, stubby tail, as opposed to the longer, unfused tails of more primitive species like

Neornithes plus all its descendants".[4][5] In 2001, Jacques Gauthier and Kevin de Queiroz recommended that Chatterjee's original apomorphy-based clade concept be used instead of Chiappe's node-based definition,[6] but this recommendation has been inconsistently followed. Luis Chiappe and co-authors continue to use Chiappe's definition, often attributing authorship of the name to Chiappe 2001[7] or Chiappe 2002[8]
rather than to Chatterjee.

Cladogram following the results of a phylogenetic study by Jingmai O'Connor and colleagues in 2016:[2]

Pygostylia

†

Confuciusornithiformes

†

Didactylornis

†Sapeornis

Ornithothoraces

In 2023, Li et al recovered their new taxon,

phylogenetic analyses are shown in the cladogram below:[9]

Avialae

Description

Chiappe noted that under his definition, all members of the Pygostylia share four

condyle of the tibiotarsus (lower leg bone).[4]

The pygostylians fall into two distinct groups with regard to the pygostyle. The Ornithothoraces have a

ploughshare
-shaped pygostyle, while the more primitive members had longer, rod-shaped pygostyles.

The earliest known member of the group is the

Protopteryx fengningensis, from the Sichakou Member of the Huajiying Formation of China, which dates to around 131 Ma ago,[10] though at least one other enantiornithine, Noguerornis, may be even older, at up to 145.5 million years ago, though its exact age is uncertain.[11]

References

  1. doi:10.1038/srep19700
    .
  2. ^ a b O’Connor, J.K., Wang X., Zheng X., Hu H., Zhang X., & Zhou Z. (2016). An Enantiornithine with a Fan-Shaped Tail, and the Evolution of the Rectricial Complex in Early Birds. Current Biology, 26(1): 114-119.
  3. ^ Chatterjee, S. 1997. The Rise of Birds. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 312 pp.
  4. ^ a b Chiappe, Luis (2001). Chiappe, Luis; Witmer (eds.). Basal bird phylogeny in Mesozoic Birds: above the heads of dinosaurs. University of California Press.
  5. doi:10.1080/02724634.1997.10011028
    .
  6. ^ Gauthier, J., & De Queiroz, K. (2001). Feathered dinosaurs, flying dinosaurs, crown dinosaurs, and the name" Aves. New perspectives on the origin and early evolution of birds, 7-41.
  7. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.693865
    .
  8. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.719176
    .
  9. S2CID 255472056
    .
  10. doi:10.1080/14772019.2010.512614
  11. ^ Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, Winter 2011 Appendix.
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