Metaves

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title: "Metaves" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["neognathae", "tetrapod-unranked-clades"] description: "Clade of birds" topic_path: "general/neognathae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaves" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Clade of birds ::

|name = Metavians |taxon = Metaves | fossil_range = | image = Eurypyga helias -Smithsonian National Zoological Park, USA-8.jpg | image_caption = Sunbittern (Eurypyga helias) |authority = Fain & Houde, 2004 |subdivision_ranks = Subgroups |subdivision =

• Columbimorphae
• Mirandornithes
• Eurypygimorphae
• Strisores Metaves ("other birds") is a controversial group proposed by Fain & Houde (2004) and later rescued on the studies of Ericson et al. (2006) and Hackett et al. (2008). This group consists of several lineages that diversified early in Neornithes evolution. These lineages include Strisores (hummingbirds, swifts, nightjars and allies), pigeons, sandgrouses, mesites, Eurypygae (sunbittern and kagu), tropicbirds and Mirandornithes (flamingos and grebes), but the exact members of Metaves and their relationship differs between those studies, and the group is only supported by the β-fibrinogen gene.

References

References

1. Fain, Matthew G.. (2004). "Parallel radiations in the primary clades of birds". [[Evolution (journal).
2. Ericson, P.G.P. ''et al.'' (2006) [http://biology-web.nmsu.edu/houde/Ericson_et_al_2006.pdf Diversification of Neoaves: integration of molecular sequence data and fossils] {{webarchive. link. (2008-03-07 . [[Biology Letters]], 2(4):543–547)
3. Hackett, S.J. ''et al.'' (2008) [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1157704 A Phylogenomic Study of Birds Reveals Their Evolutionary History]. ''Science'', 320(5884):1763–1768.
4. Mayr G.. (2011). "Metaves, Mirandornithes, Strisores and other novelties - a critical review of the higher-level phylogeny of neornithine birds.". J Zool Syst Evol Res.
5. Naish, D. (2012). "Birds." Pp. 379-423 in Brett-Surman, M.K., Holtz, T.R., and Farlow, J. O. (eds.), ''The Complete Dinosaur (Second Edition)''. Indiana University Press (Bloomington & Indianapolis).

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