Sauriurae

Sauriurae (meaning "lizard tails" in Greek) is a now-deprecated subclass of birds created by Ernst Haeckel in 1866. It was intended to include "Archaeopteryx" and distinguish it from all other birds then known, which he grouped in the sister-group Ornithurae ("bird tails"). The distinction Haeckel referred to in this name is that "Archaeopteryx" possesses a long, reptile - like tail, while all other birds known to him had short tails with few vertebrae, fused at the end into a pygostyle.Haeckel, Ernst. (1866) "Generelle Morphologie der Orgnaismen" Berlin: Georg Reimer. 462 pp.]

Ji Qiang and Larry Martin have continued to refer to the Sauriurae as a valid natural group.Ji, Q., and Ji, S. (1996). "On discovery of the earliest bird fossil in China and the origin of birds." "Chinese Geology" 10 (233): 30-33.] However, researchers like Jacques Gauthier (2001)Gauthier, Jacques, de Queiroz, Kevin. (2001) "Feathered dinosaurs, flying dinosaurs, crown dinosaurs, and the name 'Aves'". in "New Perspective on the Origin and Evolution of Birds: Proceedings of the International Symposium in Honor of John H. Ostrom" Yale Peabody Museum. Yale University. New Haven, Conn. USA] and Julia Clarke (2002)Clarke,,Julia. A. , Norell, Mark. A. (2002) "The Morphology and Phylogenetic Position of Apsaravis ukhaana from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia" American Museum Novitates, No. 3387, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024. ] have found that fossils found after Haeckel's time have bridged the gap between long and short - tailed Avialae. In their view, any grouping of avialans with long tails must exclude some of their descendants - making Sauriurae a paraphyletic and, thus, an invalid group under current systems of phylogenetic nomenclature.

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