science

Neoaves

Neoaves is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Neoaves rather than just read about it. In short: Neoaves is a clade that consists of all modern birds (Neornithes or Aves) with the exception of Palaeognathae (ratites and kin) and Galloanserae (ducks, chickens and kin). This group is defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the most inclusive crown clade containing Passer domesticus, but not Gallus gallus".

Key takeaways

Neoaves belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Neoaves to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Neoaves from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Neoaves is a clade that consists of all modern birds (Neornithes or Aves) with the exception of Palaeognathae (ratites and kin) and Galloanserae (ducks, chickens and kin). This group is defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the most inclusive crown clade containing Passer domesticus, but not Gallus gallus". Almost 95% of the roughly 10,000 known species of extant birds belong to the Neoaves. The early diversification of the various neoavian groups occurred very rapidly around the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, and attempts to resolve their relationships with each other have resulted initially in much controversy.

Phylogeny The early diversification of the various neoavian groups occurred very rapidly around the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. As a result of the rapid radiation, attempts to resolve their relationships have produced conflicting results, some quite controversial, especially in the earlier studies. Nevertheless, some recent large phylogenomic studies of Neoaves have led to much progress on defining orders and supraordinal groups within Neoaves. Still, the studies have failed to produce to a consensus on an overall high order topology of these groups. A genomic study of 48 taxa by Jarvis and colleagues in 2014 divided Neoaves into two main clades, Columbea and Passerea, but an analysis of 198 taxa by Prum and colleagues in 2015 recovered different groupings for the earliest split in Neoaves. A reanalysis with an extended dataset by Reddy and colleagues in 2017 suggested this was due to the type of sequence data, with coding sequences favouring the Prum topology. The disagreement on topology even with large phylogenomic studies led Alexander Suh in 2016 to propose a hard polytomy of nine clades as the base of Neoaves. An analysis by Houde and colleagues in 2019 recovered Columbea and a reduced hard polytomy of six clades within Passerea. Despite other disagreements, these studies do agree on several supraordinal groups, which Reddy and colleagues in 2017 dubbed the "magnificent seven", which together with three "orphaned orders" make up Neoaves. Significantly, they both include a large waterbird clade (Aequornithes) and a large landbird clade (Telluraves). The groups defined by Reddy and colleagues (2017) are as follows:

The "magnificent seven" supraordinal clades: Telluraves (landbirds) Aequornithes (waterbirds) Eurypygimorphae (sunbittern, kagu and tropicbirds) Otidimorphae (turacos, bustards and cuckoos) Strisores (nightjars, swifts, hummingbirds and allies) Columbimorphae (mesites, sandgrouse and pigeons) Mirandornithes (flamingos and grebes) The three orphaned orders: Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin) Gruiformes (cranes and rails) Charadriiformes (shorebirds, gulls and alcids) As such, the exact true phylogeny of Neoaves is not fully understood and can be represented as a polytomy. Here following Sanster and colleagues 2023, two clades of the magnificent seven, the Aequornithes and the Eurypygimorphae, are grouped together as the Phaethoquornithes. This grouping is supported by most studies, but not by Reddy 2017:

Comparison of different proposals for neoavian radiation

Taxa above the magnificent seven and three orphaned orders These are controversial, and some contradict each other. Phaethoquornithes seems to be the best-supported one.

Aequorlitornithes Aquaterraves Columbaves Columbea Elementaves Inopinaves Gruae Gruimorphae Litusilvanae Otidae Passerea Phaethoquornithes

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Neoaves

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Neoaves claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Neoaves before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Neoaves ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Neoaves

In research: Neoaves appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Neoaves in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Neoaves is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bird superorders, Extant Campanian first appearances, Neognathae, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Neoaves outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Neoaves in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Neoaves means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Neoaves out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Neoaves in simple terms?

Why does Neoaves matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Neoaves?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Neoaves.