After Olson, 1985, Feduccia, 1996, and Sibley & Monroe, 1990

Note:

Sandcoleiformes, a new order of Paleogene birds found from Green River Formation (USA), London Clay (England), Messel (Germany) and Phosphorites of Quercy (France) was established by Olson and Houde (1992). It was considered as a sistergroup of Coliiformes by original descriptors and Alan Feduccia (1996).

Many recent works by Gerard Mayr and his associates, especially Cécile Mourer-Chauviré, has demonstrated that Sandcoleiformes as defined by Houde and Olson is in fact a polyphyletic assemblage of primitive members of atleast three separate orders of modern birds, Psittaciformes, Coraciiformes and Coliiformes. There is also growing evidence of the sistergroup relations between them (Mayr & Clarke, 2003).

Currently the only sandcoleiforms not yet associated with other orders are Botauroides parvus and “Neanis” kistneri, which were included to Primobucconidae by Feduccia (1996).

<==o Anomalogonatae Garrod, 1874
   |?-o †Fluvioviridavidae Mayr, 2005a
   |  |-- †Fluvioviridavis platyrhamphus Mayr & Daniels, 2001 [former paratype of †Prefica nivea Olson, 1987 [Caprimulgiformes: Steatornithidae]]
   |  `-- †Eurofluvioviridavis robustipes Mayr, 2005a
   |?-o †Gracilitarsidae Mayr, 2001
   |  |?- †Eutreptodactylus itaboraiensis Baird & Vickers-Rich, 1997; Pal. SA. [nomen dubium, specimen lost]
   |  `-- †Gracilitarsus mirabilis Mayr, 1998
   |?-o †Zygodactylus [Anomalogonatae incertae sedis: Zygodactylidae]
   |  |-- †Z. ignotus
   |  `-- †Z. grivensis
   `--+--o Coliimorphae (hiirolintujenkaltaiset)
      |  `-- Coliiformes Murie, 1972 [incl. †Sandcoleiformes Houde & Olson, 1992] (mousebirds; hiirolinnut) [Recent: 2 genera / 5 species]
      |--o Strigimorphae (owl-like birds; pöllöjenkaltaiset)
      |  |-- Strigiformes (owls; pöllölinnut) [Recent: 24 genera / 180 species]
      |  `--+== Caprimulgiformes sensu Wetmore, 1960 (goatsuckers, nightjars; kehrääjälinnut) [Recent: 22 genera / 115 species] [paraphyletic]
      |     `-- Apodiformes (swifts & hummingbirds; kirskulinnut) [Recent: 131 genera / 443 species]
      `--o “Coraciimorphae” [paraphyletic Coraciiformes] (bluejay-like birds; säihkylintumaiset)
         |?- †Halcyornis toliapicus
         |?- †Sylphornis bretouensis [Sylphornithidae]
         |?- Leptosomus discolor (kuroli) [Leptosomatidae]
         |-- Coraciiformes s.s. [Brachypteraciidae + Coraciidae] (bluejays; säihkylinnut) [Recent: 6 genera / 16 species]
         `?-o “Alcedinimorphae”
            |-- Alcediniformes [incl. Trogoniformes] (kuningaskalastajalinnut; kingfishers) [Recent: 33 genera / 179 species]
            `--o Bucerotimorphae (hornbill-like birds; sarvinokkamaiset linnut)
               |-- Bucerotiformes (hornbills; sarvinokkalinnut) [Recent: 14 genera / 69 species]
               `--o “Pico-Passeri” (woodpecker-songbird-like birds; tikka-varpuslinnut)
                  |-- Piciformes (woodpeckers; tikkalinnut)
                  `-- Passeriformes (songbirds; varpuslinnut)

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