Euenantiornithes

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Euenantiornithes
Fossil range: Early - Late Cretaceous
Eoenantiornis buhleri
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Subclass: Enantiornithes
Superorder: Euenantiornithes
Chiappe, 2002
Orders

Aberratiodontuiformes (disputed)
Alexornithiformes
"Cathayornithiformes" (disputed)
Enantiornithiformes
Gobipterygiformes (disputed)
and see text

Euenantiornithes was a superorder of Cretaceous birds. They are considered to contain the more advanced taxa of the Enantiornithes, the dominant group of birds during the late Mesozoic. Other, more plesiomorphic Enantiornithes such as Iberomesornis romerali or Noguerornis gonzalezi, are not considered to belong herein, but altogether, the Euenantiornithes appear to contain the bulk of the Enantiornithes.

Despite being in accordance with phylogenetic nomenclature, the Euenantiornithes have come under severe criticism by proponents of that taxonomical system, such as Paul Sereno, who called them

"a [sic] ill-defined clade [...] a good example of a poor choice in a phylogenetic definition"[1]

As they are technically validly described as a clade but might be a phenetic evolutionary grade instead, they could be considered a test case for how the proposed PhyloCode would deal with nomina dubia.

[edit] Systematics and taxonomy

Several taxa have been established at order rank in this group. Many contain only the type species and most are incertae sedis regarding their interrelationships. They are consequently dismissed by many authorities. Apart from that, the placement of the following taxa is even less resolved:

Basal Euenantiornithes

Euenantiornithes incertae sedis

Family Kuszholiidae (disputed)

Order Aberratiodontuiformes (disputed)

Order "Cathayornithiformes" (disputed)

Order Alexornithiformes (disputed)

Order Gobipterygiformes (disputed)

Order Enantiornithiformes

Doubtful Euenantiornithes
It is not clear whether these taxa are Euenantiornithes:

  • Enantiornithes gen. et sp. indet. MZ unnumbered (Adamantina Late Cretaceous of Presidente Prudente, Brazil) - enantiornithiform?
  • Enantiornithes gen. et sp. indet. Patrick Mechin collection 606 (Late Cretaceous of Bastide-Neuve, France) - alexornithid?[4]

For these birds, it is not even fully resolved that they were Enantiornithes, but they show some characters usually found in Euenantiornithes:

"Jibeinia" (Early Cretaceous) is a nomen dubium.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Sereno (2005)
  2. ^ Lamanna et al. (2006)
  3. ^ Morrison et al. (2005)
  4. ^ Buffetaut et al. (2000)

[edit] References


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