Birds evolved from certain feathered theropod dinosaurs, and there is no real dividing line between birds and non-avian dinosaurs except that some of the former survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event while the latter did not. For the purposes of this article, a 'bird' is considered to be any member of the clade Avialae.Sereno (2005) Some dinosaur groups which may or may not be true birds are listed below under protobirds.
This page contains a listing of prehistoric bird taxa only known from completely fossilized specimens. These extinctions took place before the Late Quaternary and thus took place in the absence of significant human interference. While the earliest hominids had been eating birds and especially their eggs, human population and technology was simply insufficient to seriously affect healthy bird populations until the Upper Paleolithic Revolution. Rather, reasons for the extinctions listed here are stochastic abiotic events such as bolide impacts, climate changes due to orbital shifts, mass volcanic eruptions etc. Alternatively, species may have gone extinct due to evolutionary displacement by successor or competitor taxa – it is notable that an extremely large number of seabirds have gone extinct during the mid-Tertiary; this seems at least partly due to competition by the contemporary radiation of marine mammals.
The relationships of these taxa are often hard to determine, as many are known only from very fragmentary remains and due to the complete fossilization precluding analysis of information from DNA, RNA or protein sequencing. The taxa listed in this article should be classified with the Wikipedia conservation status category "Fossil".
Before the late 19th century, when minerals were still considered one of the kingdoms of binomial nomenclature, fossils were often treated according to a parallel taxonomy. Rather than assigning them to animal or plant genera, they were treated as mineral genera and given binomial names typically using Osteornis ("bone-bird") or Ornitholithus ("bird fossil") as "genus". The latter name, however, is still in use for an oogenus of fossil bird eggs. Also, other animals (in particular pterosaurs) were placed in these "genera". In sources pre-dating the Linnean system, the above terms are also seen in the more extensive descriptions used to name taxa back then.
Taxonomic list of fossil prehistoric birds Higher-level taxa are presented in likely or suspected phylogenetic order. Genus-level taxa and lower are sorted chronologically, in ascending order (i.e., older taxa first).
The higher-level groups of non-Neornithes are arranged based on the phylogeny proposed by Luis Chiappe,Chiappe (2001, 2002) updated and expanded to incorporate recent research.See e.g. Mortimer (2004), Sereno (2005) The categories are inclusive in ascending order.
Taxonomic assignments, especially in the pygostylian to early neornithine genera, are still very provisional and subject to quite frequent change.
Basal Avialae (extinct) The most primitive "birds", usually still possessing a long bony tail with generally unfused vertebrae. Not all of these may be on the line of bird ancestors; whether they are not closer to other theropods groups than to the Avialae remains to be thoroughly tested (see Xiaotingia).
Anchiornis huxleyi Aurornis xui Balaur bondoc Jixiangornis orientalis Xiaotingia zhengi Yandangornithiformes Yandangornithidae Yandangornis longicaudatus (Late Cretaceous) Archaeopterygiformes Archaeopterygidae [Archaeornithidae ; Archaeopteridae ; Archornithidae ]a Wellnhoferia grandis (Late Jurassic) – possible synonym of Archaeopteryx Archaeopteryx [Archaeornis ; Griphornis ; Griphosaurus ] (Late Jurassic) Jeholornithiformes Jeholornithidae Dalianraptor cuhe Jeholornis [Shenzhouraptor ] (Early Cretaceous)
Basal Pygostylia (extinct) The earliest birds with a modern pygostyle: a reduction and fusion of the tail vertebrae; possibly a paraphyletic group. Two types of pygostyle are known, a rod-shaped one found in Confuciusornithidae, Enantiornithes and some non-avian theropods such as Nomingia, and a plowshare-shaped one, only known in the lineage leading to modern birds. It is not certain that the pygostyles found in birds are indeed synapomorphies.Clarke et al. (2006)
Chongmingia zhengi Confuciusornithiformes Proornis coreae (nomen nudum) Zhongornis haoae - confuciusornithid? Confuciusornithidae Changchengornis hengdaoziensis (Early Cretaceous) Eoconfuciusornis zhengi (Early Cretaceous) Evgenavis nobilis Confuciusornis [Jinzhouornis Hou et al. 2002] (Early Cretaceous) Omnivoropterygiformes [Sapeornithiformes ] Omnivoropterygidae [Sapeornithidae ] Omnivoropteryx sinousaorum (Early Cretaceous) Sapeornis chaoyangensis [Didactylornis jii ; Sapeornis angustis ; Shenshiornis primita ] (Early Cretaceous)
Enantiornithes (extinct)
The taxonomic list of enantiornithine groups presented here follows a summary published by Thomas R. Holz Jr. in 2011.
Enantiornithes Basal Enantiornithes and Enantiornithes incerta sedis Cerebavis cenomanica (Late Cretaceous)Kurochkin, E.N. et al. (2006) Cruralispennia multidonta Dalingheornis liweii (Early Cretaceous) Dunhuangia cuii Elsornis keni (Late Cretaceous) Feitianius paradisi Holbotia ponomarenkoi [Holbotia ponomarenkoi ] Houornis caudatus [Cathayornis caudatus ] Laevisoolithidae [Subtiliolithidae] [ootaxa] Laevisoolithus sochavai [ootaxa] Subtiliolithus microtuberculatus [ootaxa] Tipoolithus achloujensis [ootaxa] Linyiornis amoena Monoenantiornis sihedangia Paraprotopteryx gracilis (Early Cretaceous) Parvavis chuxiongensis Piscivorenantiornis inusitatus Pterygornis dapingfangensis Xiangornis shenmi (Jiufotang Early Cretaceous of Liaoning) Yuanjiawaornis viriosus Kurzholiidae Kuszholia mengi (Late Cretaceous) Iberomesornithiformes Iberomesornithidae Iberomesornis romerali (Early Cretaceous) Liaoningornithiformes Liaoningornithidae Eoalulavis hoyasi (Early Cretaceous) Liaoningornis longidigitris Basal Euenantiornithes Catenoleimus anachoretus (Late Cretaceous) Cratoavis cearensis Elbretornis bonapartei (Late Cretaceous) Eocathayornis walkeri [Eocathayornis walkeri ] (Early Cretaceous) Flexomornis howei (Late Cretaceous) Fortunguavis xiaotaizicus Grabauornis lingyuanensis Huoshanornis huji (Late Cretaceous) Largirostrornis sexdentoris (Early Cretaceous) Lectavis bretincola (Late Cretaceous) Martinavis (Late Cretaceous) M. cruzyensis M. vincei M. minor M. saltariensis M. whetstonei Musivavis amabilis (Early Cretaceous) Yungavolucris brevipedalis Chiappe 1993 (Late Cretaceous) Liaoxiornithiformes Liaoxiornithidae Liaoxiornis delicatus [Lingyuanornis parvus ] (Late Cretaceous) Pengornithidae Chiappeavis magnapremaxillo Eopengornis martini Pengornis houi (Early Cretaceous) Parapengornis eurycaudatus Protopterygiformes Protopterygidae Jibeinia luanhera [Jibeinia luanhera ] (Early Cretaceous) Protopteryx fengningensis (Early Cretaceous) Hebeiornis fengningensis Eoenantiornithiformes Eoenantiornithidae Dapingfangornis sentisorhinus (Early Cretaceous) Eoenantiornis buhleri Bohaiornithidae Beiguornis khinganensis Bohaiornis guoi Longusunguis kurochkini Parabohaiornis martini Shenqiornis mengi (Early Cretaceous) Sulcavis geeorum (Early Cretaceous) Zhouornis hani Longipterygiformes [Boluochiiformes ; Longirostraviformes ] Longipterygidae [Boluochiidae ; Longirostravidae ] Boluochia zhengi (Early Cretaceous) Camptodontus yangi (Early Cretaceous) Longipteryx chaoyangensis (Early Cretaceous) Longirostravis hani (Early Cretaceous) Otogornis genghisi (Early Cretaceous) Rapaxavis pani (Early Cretaceous) Shanweiniao cooperorum (Early Cretaceous) Shengjingornis yangi (Early Cretaceous) Cathayornithiformes [Sinornithiformes ; Euornithiformes ] Alethoalaornithidae Alethoalaornis agitornis (Early Cretaceous) Concornithidae Concornis lacustris (Early Cretaceous) Qiliania graffini (Early Cretaceous) Noguerornis gonzalezi (Early Cretaceous) Cathyornithidae [Sinornithidae ] Gracilornis jiufotangensis (Early Cretaceous) Longchengornis sanyanensis (Early Cretaceous) Sinornis santensis (Early Cretaceous) Cathayornis (Early Cretaceous) Enantiornithiformes [Gobipterygiformes ; Alexornithiformes ] Avisauridae Cuspirostrisornis houi (Early Cretaceous) Avisaurus (Late Cretaceous) Bauxitornis mindszentyae (Late Cretaceous) Enantiophoenix electrophyla (Late Cretaceous) Halimornis thompsonae (Late Cretaceous) Gettyia (Late Cretaceous) Intiornis inexpectatus (Late Cretaceous) Mirarce (Late Cretaceous) Mystiornis cyrili (Early Cretaceous) Neuquenornis volans (Late Cretaceous) Soroavisaurus australis (Late Cretaceous) Gobipterygidae Gobipipus reshetovi Gobipteryx minuta (Late Cretaceous) Vescornis hebeiensis (Early Cretaceous) Enantiornithidae Enantiornis leali (Late Cretaceous) Gurilynia nessovi (Late Cretaceous) Wyleyia valdensis (Late Cretaceous) Nanantius (Early-?Late Cretaceous) Alexornithidae Abavornis bonaparti (Late Cretaceous) Alexornis antecedens (Late Cretaceous) Explorornis (Late Cretaceous) Incolornis (Late Cretaceous) Kizylkumavis cretacea (Late Cretaceous) Lenesornis maltschevskyi [Ichthyornis maltschevskyi ] (Late Cretaceous) Sazavis prisca (Early Cretaceous) Zhyraornis (Late Cretaceous)
Note that Holtz (2011) also included Zhyraornis in his classification of euenantiornithines, though this genus is more often classified as an ornithuran.Kurochkin (2006) Holtz also placed Liaoningornis as an ornithuromorph, though more recent studies have placed it as a close relative of Eoalulavis.O'Connor, J.K. (2012)
Basal Euornithes (extinct) Also called "basal Ornithuromorpha".Fide Chiappe (2002) Essentially modern birds, except many still possess a few primitive features such as teeth or wing claws. These have the plowshare-shaped pygostyle and proper tail fan as seen in most living birds. The taxonomy of this group is confusing; the name "Ornithurae" was first proposed by Ernst Haeckel in 1866 and has been revised in meaning several times since.
The following is a list of primitive euornithian genera and those that cannot be confidently referred to any subgroups, following Holtz (2011). Winter 2011 Appendix.
Archaeorhynchus spathula Changmaornis houi Gargantuavis philoinos Hollanda luceria [Hollandornis birdus ] Horezmavis eocretaceous Jianchangornis microdonta Jiuquanornis niui Juehuaornis zhangi Palaeopteryx thomsoni (dinosaur) Platanavis nana Schizooura lii Tingmiatornis arctica Vorona berivotrensis Xinghaiornis lini Yumenornis huangi Zhongjianornis yangi Gansuidae Changzuiornis ahgmi Gansus Iteravis huchzermeyeri Khinganornis hulunbuirensis Shuilingornis angelai Patagopterygidae Alamitornis minutus Patagopteryx deferrariisi Hongshanornithidae ?Archaeornithura meemannae Hongshanornis longicresta (Early Cretaceous) Longicrusavis houi (Early Cretaceous) Parahongshanornis chaoyangensis (Early Cretaceous)– ornithurine? Tianyuornis cheni Chaoyangiiformes Chaoyangiidae [Chaoyangornithidae ] Chaoyangia beishanensis Songlingornithiformes [Aberratiodontiformes ; Yanornithiformes ; Yixianornithiformes ] Songlingornithidae [Aberratiodontidae ; Chaoyangornithidae ; Yanornithidae ; Yixiaornithidae ] Piscivoravis lii Songlingornis linghensis (Early Cretaceous) Yixianornis grabaui (Early Cretaceous) Yanornis [Archaeoraptor ; Archaeovolans ; Aberratiodontus ] (Early Cretaceous)
Note that Holtz also included the genera Eurolimnornis, Holbotia, Palaeocursornis and Piksi as euornitheans, though they have since been re-identified as pterosaurs.
Basal Ornithurae (extinct) Limenavis patagonica (Late Cretaceous)– paleognath? Palintropidae Palintropus retusus [Cimolopteryx retusa Marsh 1892; Apatornis retusus (Marsh 1892) Brodkorb 1962] (Late Cretaceous) (?Galliformes: Quercymegapodiidae) Ambiortiformes Ambiortidae Ambiortus dementjevi (Late Cretaceous) Apsaraviformes Apsaravidae Apsaravis ukhaana (Late Cretaceous)