So far two genera have been described, each with a single species from the upper Jurassic lime stones of Solenhofen in Bavaria. Sternum enlarged, usually with a median keel. 2. 4. 1. Podilymbus (Pied-billed grebe), Centropelara (Short-winged grabes). 4. Order Pelecaniformes – Examples. Bills are small, delicate, but the mouth opening wide and margined with long bristle-like feathers with specialised sensory receptors. Thin abdominal ribs or gastralia or so-called ventral ribs were on ventral wall of abdomen. 1. Head large and round. Relatively small, almost wingless, hen like, nocturnal, omnivorous running birds confined to New Zealand. Diomedea (Albatrosses), Daption (Cape pigeon). living in woods or bush, forage near ground or high in air, and prey on insects at night or dusk. Examples: Ara (Macaw), Kakatoe, Psittacus, Conuropsis, Melapsittacus, Agapomis, Psittacula, Nestor, Rhynchopsitta, etc. Order 17. 1. 7. 2. 7. Bills broad, covered with soft cornified epidermis containing numerous sense pits with harder cap at tip. Pelvis fused with a number of vertebrae but open ventrally forming synsacrum. No urinary bladder, excreta semisolid. Examples: Archaeopteryx lithographica, Archaeornis siemensi. 5. The order includes polymorphic forms, either of large size and strong flight, inhabiting open marshes or prairies (cranes) or of medium to small size, of weak flight, or flightless, and shy inhabitant of marshes enjoying cosmopolitan distribution except in poles. 1. The tail is usually short and many feathered. The young are nourished till they attain maturity. 1. Our mission is to provide an online platform to help students to discuss anything and everything about Zoology. 2. 5. Theme by Anders Norén. Partridge or quail-like, almost tailless, herbivores, essentially cursorial birds, known as Tinamon, can fly clumsily over a short distance, confined to Southern Mexico and Central and South America. Picus (Wood peckers), Notharcus (Puff birds). Feathers with large after shafts and without barbicels. 12. In the other 97%, the production of a protein kills off what would develop into a penis. 4. 1. 5. Before publishing your Notes on this site, please read the following pages: 1. Live in flocks, but strictly monogamous. 1. 2. 3. 3. A gular pouch or throat, except in tropical birds. 2. 5. Fresh water, agile, compact-bodied .divers or grebes, almost cosmopolitan in distribution. Believed to have a sensory function, allowing birds to keep their feathers in order. Feed on fishes, crustaceans, squids, etc. Crypturellus (Variegated Tinamons), Eudromea (Crested Tinamons). 1. Archios = ancient + ornithos = bird] [1 species, Jurassic, Bavaria]: i) This subclass includes most primitive, fossil birds of Jurassic period and are known from Germany. The eyes are small. 2. 1. 9. 3. The male incubates first brood while the female incubates the 2nd brood of eggs for about 60 days. Pubic symphysis present. Bills short and slender; the base of beak covered by a soft skin bearing longitudinal slit-like nostril called cere. The wings are long, pointed and enable the birds to make sustained flight at a great speed. Order Anseriformes – Examples. Some examples of animals found in the class Aves are ducks, hummingbirds, songbirds, woodpeckers, owls and raptors. Long-necked, long-billed, herons, storks, ibises, flamingos, feeding principally in tropical and subtropical marshes and mudflats. Feathers with after shaft nearly equal to shaft. The superorder has seven orders of which two are extinct. 2nd and 3rd toes are directed forward and 1st and 4th pointed backward. 9. Examples: Grus (Cranes), Rallus, Fulica, Gallinula, Otis, Rhynochetos, Turnix, Monias, etc. The complexity of their digestive system (along with enzymes) allows for many different food sources to be consumed and digested. Apodiformes (Micropodi- formes): Small swifts and humming birds, mostly tropical. ADVERTISEMENTS: ADVERTISEMENTS: In this article we will discuss about the classification of birds. Usually a crest is present on the head. The neck and body densely feathered. Large-sized flightless birds, descended from Volant ancestors at the end of the Mesozoic period. Tail long and stiff, supports against vertical surface at the time of digging. Body has three distinct divisions with a flexible neck and covered with feathers of different kinds for the most part. Monogamous and one egg is laid at a time. Jaws toothless except in few extinct forms. 3. 9. Unit 2-3: Mechanisms of Evolution and Natural Selection, Unit 3a-1: Genetic Modification and Gene Transfer, Unit 5-3: Phylum Platyhelminthes – Webquest Notes, Unit 5-4: Phylum Nematoda – Webquest Notes. 1. Examples: Aptenodytes, Pygoscelis, Eudyptes, Eudyptula, Spheniscus, etc. In this article we will discuss about the classification of Aves. Examples: Gypes, Gymnogypes, Aegypices, Haliaster, Aquila, Buteo, Circus, Falco, Accipiter, etc. 3. derived character) that will be (potentially) reflected in evolutionary divergences in the future – birds are the youngest class of vertebrates and on a lineage separate from mammals, therefore feathers are unique to Class Aves (unlike our past major evolutionary advancements from previous classes). Apterae are usually absent in adult. 6. Pygostyle absent, free caudal vertebrate, free metacarpals. Order Columbiformes – Examples. Legs are posteriorly placed and completely encased with skin. Cuculus (Cuckoos), EiMynamys (Koels). 4. The youngest group of vertebrates appearing ~65 million years ago. Tube-nosed, long-winged sea birds, including albatrosses, fulmars, petrels etc., enjoying cosmopolitan distribution. long, pouch used to scoop fishes from water. 3. It was first developed in 1676 by John Ray and Francis Willughby, but the current system was devised by Carolus Linnaeus in 1758. The neornithine birds are arranged in four superorders—Odontognathae, Palaeognathae, Impennae and Neognathae: New World toothed birds found in Upper Cretaceous period. Examples: Muscivora, Tyrannus, Xenicus, Acanthisitta, Oxyruncus, Menura, Pycnonotus, Aegithnia, Lanius, Dulus, Corvus, Pica, Sturnus, Passer, Fringilla, Aethopyga, Moho, etc.. Class aves (birds) 1. 5. Because most birds fly, their metabolic rates are high (5-20x the resting metabolic rate of a running mammal) in order to efficiently process food. Mouth opens through a projecting beak or bill provided with horny sheath. Coracoid, scapula and wing bones reduced or absent. Notice how stage 2 resembles down feathers we see tday, Figure 5: Flight and Tail feathers – notice the difference. 3. 5. ADVERTISEMENTS: In this article we will discuss about the classification of class aves. 4. Examples: Ardea, Egretta, Nycticorax, Bnlaenkeps, Scopus, Ciconia, Threskiornis, Plegadis, Phoenicopterus, etc. are universally distributed, except in poles. Aves, Biology, Classification of Aves, Zoology. Forelimbs with metacarpals joined, and fingers included in wings. 2. 1. Examples. 6. Pectoral girdle much reduced, and clavicles not fused. 5. The quadrate single, basipterygoid process absent. 2. are distributed almost everywhere except Antarctica. Order Coraciformes – Examples. Outer toe reversible; the feet are not adapted for grasping. Female lays 15 or more green eggs. In some, anteriorly directed toes are fused at the base (syndactylous) and in others one of the toes is reversed (zygodac- tylous). Examples: Alcedo, Ispidina, Dacelo, Chlorocerle, Merops, Coracis, Upupa, Buceros, Anthracoceros, etc. Flightless, about 90 cm, adapted for swimming. 13. Sternum un-keeled. Wings well developed, possess power of flight, but great runners. 1. Teeth pointed, arranged in grooves in both the jaws, Premaxilla without teeth. Legs very short, feet very small, wings pointed and bills small and weak (swifts) or slender with long tubular tongue (humming birds). At nesting a male defends 3-7 females, digs nest and all females lay about 50 lemon-yellow eggs in the same nest ; male incubate them for about 40 days. Body has three distinct divisions with a flexible neck and covered with feathers of different kinds for the most part. Check it out! 2. 2. 4. Content Guidelines 2. Order Procellariiformes – Examples. Piscivorous sea or lake-birds of North America, Europe and Arctic, adapted for diving and swimming. Feed on nectar, small insects and spiders from the blossom by tubular protrusible tongue and needle-like bill. Four chambered heart with double loop circulation, Complete separation of deoxygenated/oxygenated blood, Complete separation of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood – more efficient as blood that is circulated to the body is richer in O. Flightless, specialised for swimming, about 150 cm in length. The eggs with glossy white shell and incubated by males. 2. 2. 1. Tropical, subtropical and temperate; nocturnal night hawks, whippoorwills, etc. Order Gruiformes – Examples. Heart four-chambered with two atria and two ventricles. The palatines are protruded posteriorly and in contact with the base of cranium and remain movably articulated with small pterygoids. 7. Flightless, terrestrial, running herbivore birds with comparatively small wings supported by a single digit. Lays only one white egg at a time. 1. The rectrices are arranged in two lateral rows on each side of the caudal vertebrae. 4. 2. Keelless sternum, hind limb with three toes. The coracoid and scapula are comparatively small and completely ankylosed. Voracious fish-eaters, diving pelicans, cormorants, boobies, gannets, etc. Elongated body with all developed wings by which they could fly for a shorter distance. 3. Examples: Ansera, Coscoroba, Anas, Branta, Cairina, Somateria, Polysticta, Mergus, Oxyura, etc. In this article we will discuss about the classification of class aves. Wings are reduced, vestigeal or absent. Before publishing your Notes on this site, please read the following pages: 1. 5. The toes two in front and two behind, the outer hind toe is not reversible. Aves # Subclass Archaeornithes: 1. This website includes study notes, research papers, essays, articles and other allied information submitted by visitors like YOU. Pygostyle small or undeveloped, coracoid and scapula comparatively small. Sternum keelless, pygostyle absent, long neck and sparsely feathered body. Includes all fossil birds from Jurassic, having toothed jaws, scaly limbs, long tail with tail feathers arranged in two parallel rows. 4. Toes are two in front, and two behind. Fore limbs with three digits ending in claws. Each foot is usually with 4 toes; shanks and toes are sheathed with cornified skin. The carpals and metacarpals free and hand with three clawed digits. 3. The males are with erectile penis and the females have clitoris. The bones of featherless wings flattened and united to form a powerful, resistant paddle or flipper moving only at the shoulder joint.