Avian systematics under review 2026
Potentially to the dismay of bird lovers everywhere,
Benito and Steell 2026 reported, “Despite an ever-improving avian fossil record and recent advances in phylogenomics, fundamental questions about bird evolutionary history remain unresolved, and nowhere is this more apparent than in our patchy comprehension of fossil bird systematics.
Avoid deep time phylogenomics. Genes produce untenable sister taxa too often.
Instead build a trait-based cladogram, like the large reptile tree (LRT, 2340 taxa). In other words, ditch genes and get back to paleontology and its trait-based descriptions.
“Among crown group birds, large-scale molecular analyses have clarified the timing and order of key divergences between neornithine lineages, yet the phylogenetic relations within major clades like Neoaves remain controversial.”
The controversy disappears whenever you stop believing in the results of “large-scale molecular analyses‘. Get back to trait-based cladograms.
“A range of phylogenetic challenges, stemming from the extremely rapid early Cenozoic avian radiation, wreaks havoc on efforts to clarify relationships among major neoavian orders, which may ultimately be irresolvable by molecular data alone.”
Extreme rapid early Cenozoic avian radiation? No. The last common ancestor of extant birds is Archaeorhynchus (Fig 1) from the Early Cretaceous. That gives birds a head start and a typical, normal, regular evolutionary pace.
This taxon is not mentioned in the Benito and Steel text. It appears in one citation.
The authors wanted to review and outline
the state-of-the-art in avian phylogenetics focusing on crown birds.
Without a proper = tested outgroup taxon and without a wide gamut trait analysis, the authors reported only on the mumbo-jumbo that arises from deep time gene studies.
The authors were brave enough to report, bird evolutionary history remain unresolved“.
Workers revolt! Return to trait analysis. Stop wasting time on deep time gene studies.
References
Benito J and Steell EM 2026. A bird’s eye view of the fossil record: perspectives on avian systematics September 2026Journal of Systematic Palaeontology DOI: 10.1080/14772019.2026.2715570 LicenseCC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2026/10/15/avian-systematics-under-review-2026/
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