An international team of scientists has transformed bird classification, offering a fresh perspective on the evolutionary history of avian species.
Led by Chinese zoologists from Zhejiang University, the researchers analyzed the genomes of 363 bird species, covering 92 percent of all existing families. Their groundbreaking study presents a new, well-supported evolutionary tree that clarifies the relationships among major bird lineages.
The study categorizes Neoaves, a diverse group encompassing most bird species, into four primary groups: Mirandornithes (including flamingos), Columbaves (such as pigeons), Telluraves (like parrots and eagles), and the newly proposed Elementaves. Elementaves comprises about 14 percent of all modern bird species, including seagulls, albatrosses, penguins, hoatzins, and swifts.
Published in the journal Nature on Tuesday, the study also confirms that a mass extinction event 66 million years ago eradicated non-avian dinosaurs, paving the way for birds to diversify and occupy various ecological niches.
\"Our work has changed many traditional views on the evolutionary history of birds,\" said Zhang Guojie from Zhejiang University. \"This new family tree will serve as a solid backbone for mapping the evolutionary history of all bird species with important implications for ornithological research and biodiversity studies,\" he added.
The study is part of the international Bird 10,000 Genomes Project, which aims to map the genomes of approximately 10,500 existing bird species, enhancing our understanding of avian diversity and evolution.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
