Avebrevicauda

Avebrevicauda; Temporal range: ; Early Cretaceous–Present, 131–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
	Fossil specimen of Sapeornis chaoyangensis, Hong Kong Science Museum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Clade:	Euavialae
Clade:	Avebrevicauda; Paul, 2002
Subgroups
	†Zhongornis; †Omnivoropterygiformes; Pygostylia;

Avebrevicauda (meaning "birds with short tails") is a group which includes all avialan species with ten or fewer free vertebrae in the tail. The group was named in 2002 by Gregory S. Paul to distinguish short-tailed avialans from their ancestors, such as Archaeopteryx, which had long, reptilian tails.[1]

The cladogram below follows the results of a phylogenetic study by Wang et al., 2016.[2]

Euavialae

†Jixiangornis

Avebrevicauda

†Sapeornis

Pygostylia

†Confuciusornis

	†Chongmingia

	Ornithothoraces

References

Paul, G.S. (2002). Dinosaurs of the Air. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 460 pp.
Wang M., Wang X., Wang Y., and Zhou Z. (2016). A new basal bird from China with implications for morphological diversity in early birds. Scientific Reports, 6: 19700. doi:10.1038/srep19700.

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[paul2002-1] Paul, G.S. (2002). Dinosaurs of the Air. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 460 pp.

[wangetal2016-2] Wang M., Wang X., Wang Y., and Zhou Z. (2016). A new basal bird from China with implications for morphological diversity in early birds. Scientific Reports, 6: 19700. doi:10.1038/srep19700.