The following
cladogram of Afroaves relationships is based on Jarvis et al (2014),[2] with some clade names after Yury, T. et al. (2013)[3] and Kimball et al. (2013).[4]
Afroaves has not always been recovered as a monophyletic clade in subsequent studies. For instance, Prum et al. (2015) recovered the accipitrimorphs as the sister group to a clade (
Eutelluraves) comprising the remaining afroavian orders and
Australaves,[5] while an analysis by Houde et al. (2019) recovered a clade of accipitrimorphs and owls as sister to the remaining landbirds.[6] Wu et al. (2024) also found recovered and found support the clade of accipitrimorphs and owls (which they have named
Hieraves), but found the clade to be sister to Australaves.[7]
Afroaves and alternative phylogenetic arrangements
^Kimball, R.T. et al. (2013) Identifying localized biases in large datasets: A case study using the Avian Tree of Life. Mol Phylogenet Evol. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.05.029