Avebrevicauda (meaning "birds with short tails") is a group which includes all

avialan Avialae ("bird wings") is a clade containing the only living dinosaurs, the birds. It is usually defined as all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds (Aves) than to deinonychosaurs, though alternative definitions are occasionally used ...

species with ten or fewer free vertebrae in the tail. The group was named in 2002 by

Gregory S. Paul Gregory Scott Paul (born December 24, 1954) is an American freelance researcher, author and illustrator who works in paleontology, and more recently has examined sociology and theology. He is best known for his work and research on theropod dino ...

to distinguish short-tailed avialans from their ancestors, such as '' Archaeopteryx'', which had long, reptilian tails.Paul, G.S. (2002). ''Dinosaurs of the Air''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 460 pp. The cladogram below follows the results of a phylogenetic study by Wang ''et al.'', 2016.Wang M., Wang X., Wang Y., and Zhou Z. (2016). A new basal bird from China with implications for morphological diversity in early birds. ''Scientific Reports, 6: 19700. .

References

Avialans Extant Early Cretaceous first appearances Taxa named by Gregory S. Paul {{Theropod-stub