Otidimorphae Explained

Otidimorphae is a clade of birds that contains the orders Cuculiformes (cuckoos), Musophagiformes (turacos), and Otidiformes (bustards) identified in 2014 by genome analysis.^[1] George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 named the clade uniting turacos and bustards as Musophagotides, defining it in the PhyloCode as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Otis tarda and Musophaga violacea, but not Grus grus or Mesitornis variegatus".^[2]

While the bustards seem to be related to the turacos, other genetic studies have found the cuckoos to be closer to the bustards than the turacos are.^{[3] [4]}

Notes and References

1. Jarvis . E.D. . etal . 2014 . Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds . Science . 346 . 6215. 1320–1331 . 10.1126/science.1253451 . 25504713 . 4405904. 2014Sci...346.1320J .
2. Sangster . G. . Braun . E.L. . Johansson . U.S. . Kimball . R.T. . Mayr . G. . Suh . A. . 2022 . Phylogenetic definitions for 25 higher-level clade names of birds . Avian Research . 13 . 100027 . 10.1016/j.avrs.2022.100027 . free . 2022AvRes..1300027S .
3. Ericson. P. G.P. Anderson. C. L. Britton. T.. Elzanowski. A.. Johansson. U. S. Kallersjo. M.. Ohlson. J. I. Parsons. T. J. Zuccon. D.. Mayr. G.. Diversification of Neoaves: integration of molecular sequence data and fossils. Biology Letters. 2006. 2. 4. 543–547. 10.1098/rsbl.2006.0523. rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org. 17148284. 1834003.
4. Hackett. S. J.. Kimball. R. T.. Reddy. S.. A Phylogenomic Study of Birds Reveals Their Evolutionary History. Science. 2008. 320. 5884. 1763–1768. 10.1126/science.1157704. 18583609. 2008Sci...320.1763H. 6472805. etal.