Category:Caprimulgiformes - BirdForum Opus

Order: Caprimulgiformes

Description

Nightjars, Frogmouths, Potoos, the Oilbird, Swifts, Treeswifts and Hummingbirds.

Taxonomy

Caprimulgiformes is an order in the class Aves.

Recent results show that the former order Apodiformes is embedded within the previous definition of Caprimulgiformes. There were four possible solutions:

• 1 Transfer Owlet-nightjars to Apodiformes,
• 2 Make a new overriding taxon that contains Apodiformes and Aegothelidae,
• 3 Embed Apodiformes within the nightjars (Caprimulgiformes),
• 4 Separate Owlet-nightjars from both Caprimulgiformes and Apodiformes

Clements eventually choose the last solution (as part of a six way split of the former Caprimulgiformes) and the Opus follows.

References

1. Abstract of a paper describing the phylogeny of Caprimulgiformes and Apodiformes: Michael J. Braun and Christopher J. Huddleston (in print 2009). A molecular phylogenetic survey of caprimulgiform nightbirds illustrates the utility of non-coding sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution