Telluraves Telluraves Telluraves (also called land birds or core landbirds) is a recently defined clade of birds with controversial content. Based on most recent genetic studies, the clade unites a variety of bird groups, including the australavians (passerines, parrots, seriamas, and falcons) as well as the afroavians (including the Accipitrimorphae – eagles, hawks, buzzards, vultures etc – owls and woodpeckers, among others). They appear to be the sister group of a newly defined clade centered on Aequornithes. Given that the most basal extant members of both Afroaves (Accipitrimorphae, Strigiformes) and Australaves (Cariamiformes, Falconiformes) are carnivorous, it has been suggested that the
The Origin of Birds in fact, was decidedly reptilian and generally opposed to that of modern birds. This included the pelvis, which lacks a pectineal process and has a very different os sacrum from modern birds, as well as the carpus, which Heilmann wrote exhibited the same phenomena found in the wrists of modern reptiles. Its tail was also noted by Heilmann as being extremely reptilian and resembling nothing known of modern birds. He goes on to state that other features of "Archaeopteryx", however, are remarkably birdlike and bear little resemblance to their reptilian analogues. The hand of "Archaeopteryx" is observed as being one