Avebrevicauda

Avebrevicauda; Temporal range: ; Early Cretaceous–Present, 136–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
	Fossil specimen of Sapeornis chaoyangensis, Hong Kong Science Museum
	Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Clade:	Avialae
Clade:	Euavialae
Clade:	Avebrevicauda; Paul, 2002
Subgroups
	†Zhongornis; †Omnivoropterygidae; Pygostylia;

Avebrevicauda (meaning "birds with short tails") is a group of theropod dinosaurs 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[edit]

^ 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.

[1]

[2]