Elementaves is a proposed

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 ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s, comprising a diverse group of birds who occupy various different ecological niches. They include the clades

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 ...

and

Strisores Strisores ( ), sometimes called nightbirds, is a clade of birds that includes the living family (biology), families and order (biology), orders Caprimulgidae (nightjars, nighthawks and allies), Nyctibiidae (potoos), Steatornithidae (oilbirds), P ...

, as well as the

Gruimorphae Gruimorphae is a clade of birds that contains the orders Charadriiformes (plovers, gulls, and allies) and Gruiformes (cranes and rails) identified by molecular analysis. This grouping has had historical support, as various charadriiform families ...

and

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 ...

. According to Stiller ''et al.'' (2024), it is one of the four major subclades of

Neoaves Neoaves is a clade that consists of all modern bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard ...

and sister to

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, ...

. The clade's name refers to the

classical elements The classical elements typically refer to earth, water, air, fire, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Angola, Tibet, India, ...

, reflecting its members' varying adaptations to earth, air, and water.

References

Neognathae {{improve categories, date=April 2024