Editing Bird (section)

===Classification of bird orders===
{{See also|List of birds}}

All modern birds lie within the [[crown group]] Aves (alternately Neornithes), which has two subdivisions: the [[Palaeognathae]], which includes the flightless [[ratite]]s (such as the [[ostrich]]es) and the weak-flying [[tinamou]]s, and the extremely diverse [[Neognathae]], containing all other birds.<ref name="Mitchell2014">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.1251981| pmid = 24855267| title = Ancient DNA reveals elephant birds and kiwi are sister taxa and clarifies ratite bird evolution| journal = Science| volume = 344| issue = 6186| pages = 898–900| date = 23 May 2014| last1 = Mitchell | first1 = K. J.| last2 = Llamas | first2 = B.| last3 = Soubrier | first3 = J.| last4 = Rawlence | first4 = N. J.| last5 = Worthy | first5 = T. H.| last6 = Wood | first6 = J.| last7 = Lee | first7 = M. S. Y.| last8 = Cooper | first8 = A.| bibcode = 2014Sci...344..898M| hdl = 2328/35953 | hdl-access = free}}</ref> These two subdivisions have variously been given the [[taxonomic rank|rank]] of [[superorder]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/birdbiogeography1.htm |title=Bird biogeography | last= Ritchison| first=Gary |access-date=10 April 2008 |work=Avian Biology|publisher=Eastern Kentucky University}}</ref> cohort,<ref name="Theropoda"/> or infraclass.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cracraft |first1=J. |chapter=Avian Higher-level Relationships and Classification: Nonpasseriforms |pages=xxi–xli |editor-last1=Dickinson |editor-first1=E. C.|editor-first2=J. V. |editor-last2=Remsen|year=2013 |title=The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World |edition=4th |volume=1 |publisher=Aves Press, Eastbourne, U.K.}}</ref> The number of known living bird species is around 11,000<ref name="IOC14.2">{{cite taxon|IOC|version=14.2|doi=|doi-access=|access-date=21 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=October 2022 {{!}} Clements Checklist |url=https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/updateindex/october-2022/ |access-date=6 January 2023 |website=www.birds.cornell.edu}}</ref> although sources may differ in their precise numbers.

[[Cladogram]] of modern bird relationships based on Stiller ''et al'' (2024).,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stiller |first1=Josefin |last2=Feng |first2=Shaohong |last3=Chowdhury |first3=Al-Aabid |last4=Rivas-González |first4=Iker |last5=Duchêne |first5=David A. |last6=Fang |first6=Qi |last7=Deng |first7=Yuan |last8=Kozlov |first8=Alexey |last9=Stamatakis |first9=Alexandros |last10=Claramunt |first10=Santiago |last11=Nguyen |first11=Jacqueline M. T. |last12=Ho |first12=Simon Y. W. |last13=Faircloth |first13=Brant C. |last14=Haag |first14=Julia |last15=Houde |first15=Peter |last16=Cracraft |first16=Joel |last17=Balaban |first17=Metin |last18=Mai |first18=Uyen |last19=Chen |first19=Guangji |last20=Gao |first20=Rongsheng |last21=Zhou |first21=Chengran |last22=Xie |first22=Yulong |last23=Huang |first23=Zijian |last24=Cao |first24=Zhen |last25=Yan |first25=Zhi |last26=Ogilvie |first26=Huw A. |last27=Nakhleh |first27=Luay |last28=Lindow |first28=Bent |last29=Morel |first29=Benoit |last30=Fjeldså |first30=Jon |last31=Hosner |first31=Peter A. |last32=da Fonseca |first32=Rute R. |last33=Petersen |first33=Bent |last34=Tobias |first34=Joseph A. |last35=Székely |first35=Tamás |last36=Kennedy |first36=Jonathan David |last37=Reeve |first37=Andrew Hart |last38=Liker |first38=Andras |last39=Stervander |first39=Martin |last40=Antunes |first40=Agostinho |last41=Tietze |first41=Dieter Thomas |last42=Bertelsen |first42=Mads F. |last43=Lei |first43=Fumin |last44=Rahbek |first44=Carsten |last45=Graves |first45=Gary R. |last46=Schierup |first46=Mikkel H. |last47=Warnow |first47=Tandy |last48=Braun |first48=Edward L. |last49=Gilbert |first49=M. Thomas P. |last50=Jarvis |first50=Erich D. |last51=Mirarab |first51=Siavash |last52=Zhang |first52=Guojie |title=Complexity of avian evolution revealed by family-level genomes |journal=Nature |date=23 May 2024 |volume=629 |issue=8013 |pages=851–860 |doi=10.1038/s41586-024-07323-1 |pmid=38560995 |pmc=11111414 |bibcode=2024Natur.629..851S }}</ref> showing the 44 orders recognised by the IOC.<ref name=IOC14.2/>

{{clade transclude
|page=Template:Phylogeny/Birds
|label=Aves
|wrap='''Aves'''
|nohidden=yes}}

The classification of birds is a contentious issue. [[Charles Sibley|Sibley]] and [[Jon Ahlquist|Ahlquist]]'s ''Phylogeny and Classification of Birds'' (1990) is a landmark work on the subject.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sibley |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Sibley |author2=Jon Edward Ahlquist |year=1990 |title=Phylogeny and classification of birds |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-300-04085-7|author2-link=Jon Edward Ahlquist }}</ref> Most evidence seems to suggest the assignment of orders is accurate,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mayr |first=Ernst |author-link=Ernst W. Mayr |author2=Short, Lester L.|title=Species Taxa of North American Birds: A Contribution to Comparative Systematics |series=Publications of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, no. 9 |year=1970 |publisher=Nuttall Ornithological Club|location=Cambridge, MA |oclc=517185}}</ref> but scientists disagree about the relationships among the orders themselves; evidence from modern bird anatomy, fossils and DNA have all been brought to bear on the problem, but no strong consensus has emerged. Fossil and molecular evidence from the 2010s is providing an increasingly clear picture of the evolution of modern bird orders.<ref name=Prum2015/><ref name=Jarvis2014>{{cite journal | last1 = Jarvis | first1 = E. D. | display-authors = et al | year = 2014 | title = Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds | journal = Science | volume = 346 | issue = 6215| pages = 1320–1331 | doi=10.1126/science.1253451 | pmid=25504713 | pmc=4405904| bibcode = 2014Sci...346.1320J }}</ref>