Paraves

Taxobox
name = Paravians
fossil_range = Jurassic - Recent
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Saurischia
subordo = Theropoda
unranked_familia = Paraves
unranked_familia_authority = Sereno, 1997
subdivision_ranks = Sub-groups
subdivision =
Aves
Deinonychosauria

Paraves is a stem–based clade containing birds (clade Aves) and other closely related dinosaurs. The paravians include the Avialae, such as "Archaeopteryx", and the Deinonychosauria, which includes the dromaeosaurids and troodontids.

The name Paraves was initially coined by Paul Sereno in 1997.Sereno, P. C., 1997, "The origin and evolution of dinosaurs", "Annual Review of Earth & Planetary Sciences" 25:435- 489. (21)] The clade was defined by Sereno in 1998 as a stem–based clade containing all Maniraptora closer to Neornithes (which includes all the birds living in the world today) than to "Oviraptor".Sereno, P. C., 1998, "A rationale for phylogenetic definitions, with application to the higher level taxonomy of Dinosauria", "Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie" Abhandlungen 210:41-83. (23)]

The ancestral Paravian is a hypothetical animal; the last common ancestor of birds, dromaeosaurids, and troodontids. Little can be said with certainty about this animal. The work of Xu "et al." (2003) suggested that this paravian possibly was arboreal and could glideXing, X., Zhou, Z., Wang, X., Kuang, X., Zhang, F., and Du, X. (2003). "Four-winged dinosaurs from China." "Nature", 421: 335–340.] . The work of Turner "et al." (2007) suggested that the ancestral paravian could not glide or fly, and that it was most likely small ( around 65 centimeters long and 600-700 grams in mass). Turner, Alan H.; Pol, Diego; Clarke, Julia A.; Erickson, Gregory M.; and Norell, Mark.. (2007). " A basal dromaeosaurid and size evolution preceding avian flight". "Science", 317: 1378-1381. doi:10.1126/science.1144066] .

References