Pangalliformes is the scientific name of a provisional

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 birds within the group Galloanserae. It is defined as all birds more closely related to

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

s than to

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

s, and includes all modern chickens, turkeys, pheasants, and megapodes, as well as extinct species that do not fall within the crown group

Galliformes Galliformes is an order (biology), order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkey (bird), turkeys, chickens, Old World quail, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems ...

Classification

Galliform-like pangalliformes are represented by

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

families from the

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 ...

, namely the Gallinuloididae, Paraortygidae and Quercymegapodiidae. In the early

Cenozoic The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three g ...

, some additional birds may or may not be early Galliformes, though even if they are, it is rather unlikely that these belong to extant families: * †'' Argillipes'' (London Clay

Early Eocene In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

of England) * †'' Coturnipes'' (

of England, and Virginia, USA?) * †'' Paleophasianus'' (Willwood

of Bighorn County, USA) * †'' Percolinus'' (London Clay

e of England) * †''"Palaeorallus" alienus'' (middle

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

of Tatal-Gol, Mongolia) * †'' Anisolornis'' (Santa Cruz

Middle Miocene The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), epoch made up of two Stage (stratigraphy), stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene. The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0. ...

of Karaihen, Argentina) More recently, '' Sylviornis'' and its sister taxon '' Megavitiornis'' was considered as stem-galliforms, suggesting that at least one lineage of Pangalliformes outside the crown group Galliformes survived to the Holocene. This same study also presents Dromornithidae as possibly closer to

than to Anseriformes as traditionally expected, though it acknowledges that more work is required for confirmation. A 2024 study alternatively classified dromornithids as crown anseriforms and suggested that Gastornithiformes and sylviornithids are crown-group galliforms.

Putative Late Cretaceous records

A few fragmentary

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s have been described as pangalliforms from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

. '' Asteriornis'', one of the earliest known pangalloanserine birds, likely belongs to the pangalliforms. '' Austinornis lentus'' (formerly referred to as '' Ichthyornis lentus'', '' Graculavus lentus'', or '' Pedioecetes lentus'') was found in the Late Cretaceous Austin Chalk near Fort McKinney,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. In 2004, Clarke classified it within Pangalliformes rather than true Galliformes, pending further fossil finds. However, other researchers have disputed its classification and dismissed it in phylogenetic analyses due to the fragmentary nature of the holotype. Notably, in 2014, Gerald Mayr suggested that ''Austinornis'' is a non-neornithine from the Coniacian or

Santonian The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 86.3 ± 0.7 mya ( million years ago) and 83.6 ± 0.7 m ...

age and that the specimen probably belongs to the ornithurine '' Apatornis'' or '' Iaceornis''. Another specimen, PVPH 237, from the Late Cretaceous Portezuelo Formation (

Turonian The Turonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS' geologic timescale, the second age (geology), age in the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch, or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Upper Cretaceous series (stratigraphy), ...

- Coniacian, about 90 Ma) in the Sierra de Portezuelo (

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

) has also been suggested to be an early relative of true galliformes, though the study did not specifically classified the specimen as a pangalliform. This is a partial

coracoid A coracoid is a paired bone which is part of the shoulder assembly in all vertebrates except therian mammals (marsupials and placentals). In therian mammals (including humans), a coracoid process is present as part of the scapula, but this is n ...

of a possible neornithine bird, which in its general shape and particularly the wide and deep attachment for the muscle joining the coracoid and the

humerus The humerus (; : humeri) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius (bone), radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extrem ...

bone resembles the more basal lineages of galliforms.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallinaceous Birds Galloanserae Galliformes Extant Eocene first appearances