Galloanserae

Mounted skeleton of Gastornis gigantea, copyright Vince Smith.

Belongs within: Aves.
Contains: Anseres, Galliformes.

The Galloanserae are a clade of birds uniting the waterfowl (Anseriformes) and gamefowl (Galliformes). The clade is supported by molecular data as well as by morphological characters including presence of a sessile basipterygoid processes, long, blade-like retroarticular processes on the mandible, and a derived morphology of the quadrate (Mayr 2009).

As well as the ducks and geese, the Anseriformes include the screamers (Anhimidae) of South America. Screamers have a short curved bill, soft downy feathers on the relatively small head and short neck, and two large, sharp spurs on the forward edge of each wing. Their toes mostly lack webbing (Austin 1961). Anseriformes have one of the better fossil records among birds, including the giant flightless Gastornithidae of the Palaeogene Holarctic.

Stem-group relatives of the Galliformes include the Gallinuloididae, known from well-preserved skeletons from the early Eocene of Europe and North America. The Paraortygidae and Quercymegapodiidae are known from more fragmentary remains from the late Eocene and Oligocene of Europe (Mayr 2009).

<==Galloanserae [Galloanseres, Galloanserimorphae] PB15
    |--Anseriformes [Anatiformes, Anserimorphae] HK08
    |    |  i. s.: Aminornis exavatus Ameghino 1899 M09
    |    |--Gastornithidae [Diatrymidae, Gastornithiformes] RS01
    |    |    |--Zhongyuanus xichuanensis Hou 1980 M09
    |    |    `--Gastornis Hébert 1855 M05 (see below for synonymy)
    |    |         |--*G. parisiensis Hébert 1855 M02 [incl. G. edwardsi Lemoine 1878 M09, G. klaasseni Newton 1886 M09]
    |    |         |--G. ajax (Shufeldt 1913) [=Diatryma ajax] M02
    |    |         |--G. geiselensis (Fischer 1978) [=Diatryma geiselensis] M09
    |    |         |--G. gigantea (Cope 1876) [=*Diatryma giganteus] M02
    |    |         |--G. minor Lemoine 1878 M09 [=Remiornis minor M02; incl. G. russeli Martin 1992 M09]
    |    |         |--G. regens (Marsh 1894) M09 [=*Barornis regens M02, Diatryma regens M09]
    |    |         |--G. sarasini (Schaub 1929) [=Diatryma sarasini] M02
    |    |         |--‘Diatryma’ steini (Matthew & Granger 1917) M07
    |    |         `--‘*Omorhamphus’ storchii Sinclair 1928 M02
    |    `--+--Anseres CT05
    |       `--Anhimidae [Anhimae, Palamedaeidae, Palamedeidae] CT05
    |            |--Chaunoides antiquus Alvarenga 1999 M09
    |            |--Anhima Brisson 1760 [incl. Palamedaea Möhring 1752 (pre-Linnean), Palamedea Linné 1766] B94
    |            |    `--A. cornuta C04 [=Palamedea cornuta SS66]
    |            |--Loxornis Ameghino 1894 M09, A94
    |            |    `--*L. clivus Ameghino 1895 A94, M09
    |            `--Chauna CT05
    |                 |--C. chavaria S66
    |                 |--C. derbiana Gray 1845 M66 [incl. C. nigricollis Sclater 1864 S66, M66]
    |                 `--C. torquata (Oken 1816) ME04
    `--Pangalliformes C04
         |  i. s.: Austinornis Clarke 2004 C04
         |           `--*A. lentus (Marsh 1877) [=Graculavus lentus, Ichthyornis lentus] C04
         |         Amitabha Gulas-Wroblewski & Wroblewski 2003 MW04
         |           `--A. urbsinterdictensis Gulas-Wroblewski & Wroblewski 2003 MW04
         |         Argillipes Harrison & Walker 1977 M05, M02
         |           |--*A. aurorum Harrison & Walker 1977 M02
         |           |--A. magnus Harrison & Walker 1979 M02
         |           `--A. paralectoris Harrison & Walker 1977 [incl. Paraortygoides radagasti Dyke & Gulas 2002] M05
         |         Palaeonossax senectus Wetmore 1956 M09
         |--Gallinuloididae [Gallinuloidinae] M09
         |    |--Gallinuloides Eastman 1900 MW04
         |    |    `--G. wyomingensis Eastman 1900 MW04
         |    `--Paraortygoides Mayr 2000 MW04
         |         `--*P. messelensis Mayr 2000 M02
         `--+--Paraortygidae M09
            |    |--Archaealectrornis sibleyi Crowe & Short 1992 M09
            |    |--Pirortyx Brodkorb 1964 M09, M02
            |    |      `--*P. major (Gaillard 1939) [=Palaeortyx major] M02
            |    |--Procrax Tordoff & Macdonald 1957 M09, MW04
            |    |    `--P. brevipes Tordoff & Macdonald 1957 M09
            |    |--Paraortyx Gaillard 1908 M02
            |    |    |--*P. lorteti Gaillard 1908 (see below for synonymy) M02
            |    |    `--P. brancoi Gaillard 1908 M02
            |    `--Taoperdix Milne-Edwards 1869 M09, M02
            |         |--*T. pessieti (Gervais 1862) [=Tetrao pessieti] M02
            |         `--T. miocaena Ballmann 1969 M02
            `--+--Galliformes M09
               `--Quercymegapodiidae [Quercymegapodiinae] MW04
                    |--Taubacrex Alvarenga 1988 M02
                    |    `--T. granivora Alvarenga 1988 M09
                    |--Ludiortyx Brodkorb 1964 M05, M02 [incl. Eortyx Brodkorb 1967 M02]
                    |    `--L. hoffmanni (Gervais 1852) (see below for synonymy) M02
                    |--Quercymegapodius Mourer-Chauviré 1992 M02
                    |    |--*Q. depereti (Gaillard 1908) [=Palaeocryptonyx depereti, Pirortyx depereti] M02
                    |    `--Q. brodkorbi Mourer-Chauviré 1992 M09
                    `--Ameripodius Alvarenga 1995 M02
                         |--*A. silvasantosi Alvarenga 1995 M02
                         `--A. alexis Mourer-Chauviré 2000 M02

Gastornis Hébert 1855 M05 [incl. Barornis Marsh 1894 M02, Diatryma Cope 1876 M09, M05, Omorhamphus Sinclair 1928 M02]

Ludiortyx hoffmanni (Gervais 1852) [=Tringa hoffmanni, *Eortyx hoffmanni, Palaeortyx hoffmanni; incl. P. blanchardi Milne-Edwards 1869, *Ludiortyx blanchardi] M02

*Paraortyx lorteti Gaillard 1908 [incl. Palaeortyx cayluxensis Milne-Edwards 1892 non Lydekker 1891, Par. cayluxensis, Pal. gaillardi Lambrecht 1933, Ludiortyx gaillardi, Paraortyx gaillardi] M02

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A94] Ameghino, F. 1894. Sur les oiseaux fossiles de Patagonie et la aune mammalogique des couches a Pyrotherium. Boletín del Instituto Geográfico Argentino 15 (11-12): 501–602.

Austin, O. L., Jr. 1961. Birds of the World: A survey of the twenty-seven orders and one hundred and fifty-five families. Paul Hamlyn: London.

[B94] Bock, W. J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1–281.

[C04] Clarke, J. A. 2004. Morphology, phylogenetic taxonomy, and systematics of Ichthyornis and Apatornis (Avialae: Ornithurae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 286: 1–179.

[CT05] Clarke, J. A., C. P. Tambussi, J. I. Noriega, G. M. Erickson & R. A. Ketcham. 2005. Definitive fossil evidence for the extant avian radiation in the Cretaceous. Nature 433: 305–308.

[HK08] Hackett, S. J., R. T. Kimball, S. Reddy, R. C. K. Bowie, E. L. Braun, M. J. Braun, J. L. Chojnowski, W. A. Cox, K.-L. Han, J. Harshman, C. J. Huddleston, B. D. Marks, K. J. Miglia, W. S. Moore, F. H. Sheldon, D. W. Steadman, C. C. Witt & T. Yuri. 2008. A phylogenomic study of birds reveals their evolutionary history. Science 320: 1763–1768.

[M05] Mayr, G. 2005. The Paleogene fossil record of birds in Europe. Biological Reviews 80: 515–542.

[M07] Mayr, G. 2007. The birds from the Paleocene fissure filling of Walbeck (Germany). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (2): 394–408.

[M09] Mayr, G. 2009. Paleogene Fossil Birds. Springer.

[ME04] Mayr, G., & P. G. P. Ericson. 2004. Evidence for a sister group relationship between the Madagascan mesites (Mesitornithidae) and the cuckoos (Cuculidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica 84 (1–2): 1–17.

[MW04] Mayr, G., & I. Weidig. 2004. The Early Eocene bird Gallinuloides wyomingensis—a stem group representative of Galliformes. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 49 (2): 211–217.

[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.

[M66] Moore, T. J. 1866. On the habitat of the Derbyan crested screamer (Chauna derbiana, G. R. Gray). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 368–369.

[PB15] Prum, R. O., J. S. Berv, A. Dornburg, D. J. Field, J. P. Townsend, E. M. Lemmon & A. R. Lemmon. 2015. A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing. Nature 526: 569–573.

[RS01] Rasmussen, D. T., E. L. Simons, F. Hertel & A. Judd. 2001. Hindlimb of a giant terrestrial bird from the Upper Eocene, Fayum, Egypt. Palaeontology 44 (2): 325–337.

[S66] Sclater, P. L. 1866. Note on Chauna nigricollis. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 369–370.

[SS66] Sclater, P. L., & O. Salvin. 1866. Catalogue of birds collected by Mr. E. Bartlett on the River Uyacali, Eastern Peru, with notes and descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 175–201.