Novaeratitae

Clade of birds

Novaeratitae is a proposed clade that was originally defined to contain the recent common ancestors of the orders Casuariiformes and Apterygiformes (kiwis). Recently it has been determined that the elephant birds of the extinct order Aepyornithiformes were the closest relatives of the kiwis, and therefore are part of this group. The implication is that ratites had lost flight independently in each group, as the elephant birds are the only novaeratites found outside Oceania. This clade has been contested by other studies, which find the relationships between the four main clades of non-ostrich palaeognaths to be an unresolved polytomy, with only slightly more genetic support for Novaeritiae over alternative proposals.

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