Avialae
clade of dinosaurs containing all modern birds, as well as their extinct relatives From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Avialae is a term for birds and their immediate extinct ancestors. It is a clade of dinosaurs containing their only living representatives (birds) and whatever coelurosaurs are regarded as their ancestors. There are two ways it can be defined:
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Definition by physical characters
Avialae is defined as a clade based on physical characteristics. Jacques Gauthier named Avialae in 1986 as all dinosaurs that possessed feathered wings used in flapping flight, and the birds that descended from them.[1][2]
Branch-based definition
Several other authors use a similar, but branch-based, definition: all theropods closer to birds than to Deinonychus.[3][4]
References
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