The order Falconiformes () is represented by the extant family Falconidae (falcons and caracaras) and a handful of enigmatic

Paleogene The Paleogene Period ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Ma. It is the fir ...

species. Traditionally, the other

bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...

families Cathartidae (New World vultures and condors), Sagittariidae (secretarybird), Pandionidae (ospreys), and Accipitridae (hawks) were classified in Falconiformes. A variety of comparative

genome A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

analyses published since 2008, however, found that falcons are part of a clade of birds called

Australaves Australaves is a clade of birds, defined in 2012, consisting of the Eufalconimorphae (passerines, parrots and falcons) as well as the Cariamiformes (including seriemas and the extinct "terror birds"). They appear to be the sister group of Afroave ...

, which also includes seriemas,

parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...

s and

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

s. Within Australaves falcons are more closely related to the parrot-passerine clade than they are to the seriemas. The

hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This ...

vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

s and owls are placed in the clade

Afroaves Afroaves is a clade of birds, consisting of the kingfishers and kin (Coraciiformes), woodpeckers and kin (Piciformes), hornbills and kin (Bucerotiformes), trogons (Trogoniformes), cuckoo roller (Leptosomiformes), mousebirds (Coliiformes), owls (S ...

. The

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

of the

Telluraves Telluraves (also called land birds or core landbirds) is a recently defined clade of birds defined by their arboreality. Based on most recent genetic studies, the clade unites a variety of bird groups, including the australavians (passerines, ...

shown below is based on the study by Josefin Stiller and collaborators published in 2024. The species numbers are taken from the December 2023 version of the list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology. It links basic and applied research and nurtures education and outreach activities. Specifically, the IOU organizes and funds global co ...

(IOC). This list includes the Cathartiformes (New World vultures) in the order Accipitriformes. The fossil record of Falconiformes ''

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

'' is poorly documented. The only stem-falcons that have mostly complete remains are '' Masillaraptor parvunguis'' and '' Danielsraptor phorusrhacoides'', while the other taxa '' Stintonornis mitchelli'' and '' Parvulivenator watteli'' are known from fragmentary remains. Mayr (2009) noted the similarity of ''Masillaraptor'' to the seriemas. One study from Wang et al. (2012) using 30 nuclear loci from 28 taxa found Falconidae and Cariamidae being sister taxa to each other. This has, however, not been supported by the latest major neoavian

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

studies. A 2022 study recovers masillaraptorids as true falcons.

References

Bird orders Eocene taxonomic orders Oligocene taxonomic orders Miocene taxonomic orders Pliocene taxonomic orders Pleistocene taxonomic orders Holocene taxonomic orders {{Falconiformes-stub