Aequorlitornithes is a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

of waterbirds recovered in a comprehensive genomic systematic study using nearly 200 species in 2015. It contains the clades

Charadriiformes Charadriiformes (, from '' Charadrius'', the type genus of family Charadriidae) is a diverse order of small to medium-large birds. It includes about 390 species and has members in all parts of the world. Most charadriiform birds live near water ...

(waders and shorebirds),

Mirandornithes Mirandornithes () is a clade that consists of flamingos and grebes. Many scholars use the term Phoenicopterimorphae for the superorder containing flamingoes and grebes. Determining the relationships of both groups has been problematic. Flaming ...

(flamingos and grebes) and

Phaethoquornithes Phaethoquornithes is a clade of birds that contains Eurypygimorphae and Aequornithes, which was first recovered by genome analysis in 2014. Members of Eurypygimorphae were originally classified in the obsolete group Metaves, and Aequornithes we ...

(

Eurypygimorphae Eurypygimorphae or Phaethontimorphae is a clade of birds that contains the orders Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds) and Eurypygiformes (kagu and sunbittern) recovered by genome analysis. The relationship was first identified in 2013 based on thei ...

and Aequornithes). Previous studies have found different placement for the clades in the tree. A 2024 study used Aequorlitornithes for a similar clade, which they recovered as part of Aquaterraves. This clade also included

Opisthocomiformes Opisthocomidae is a family of birds, the only named family within the order Opisthocomiformes. The only living representative is the hoatzin (''Opisthocomus hoazin'') which lives in the Amazon and the Orinoco delta in South America. Several fossi ...

and excluded

, which they recovered in Litusilvanae, a novel clade within Aquaterraves, which also included

Gruiformes The Gruiformes ( ) are an order containing a considerable number of living and extinct bird families, with a widespread geographical diversity. Gruiform means "crane-like". Traditionally, a number of wading and terrestrial bird families that ...

and Caprimulgimorphae.

References

Neognathae {{bird-stub