Hieraves

Hieraves is a clade of telluravian birds named by Wu et al. (2024) that includes the orders Strigiformes (owls) and Accipitriformes (hawks and their relatives).^[1] The Cathartidae (New World vultures) are usually included in Accipitriformes,^[2] but some authors treat them as a third order Cathartiformes in the Hieraves.^{[citation needed]} In the past, either owls, New World vultures, and hawks were found to be basal outgroups with respect to Coraciimorphae inside Afroaves,^[3][4] or Accipitriformes and Cathartiformes were recovered as a basal clade in respect to the rest of the members of Telluraves.^[5] Houde et al. (2019) found support for Hieraves (then unnamed), but they were found to be the sister group to Coraciimorphae and Australaves.^[6] The analysis of Wu et al. (2024) has found Hieraves to be the sister clade to Australaves.^[1] Stiller et al. (2024) found Hieraves to be basal to Afroaves.^[7]

Hieraves Temporal range: Paleocene (Danian) to recent 61.7–0 Ma[1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Possible Late Cretaceous origin based on molecular clock[1]
Barn owl Tyto alba
Common buzzard Buteo buteo
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Clade:	Telluraves
Clade:	Hieraves Wu et al., 2024
Clades
Strigiformes Accipitriformes