Apodimorphae is a clade of strisorean birds that include the extant families Trochilidae (hummingbirds), Hemiprocnidae (treeswifts), Apodidae (swifts), Aegothelidae (owlet-nightjars), and many fossil families. This grouping of birds has been supported in a variety of recent studies.[1][2][3][4][5][6] There are two higher classification schemes that have been proposed for the apodimorph families. One is all strisorean birds are classified in the order Caprimulgiformes,[3][5] while the other is the strisorean birds are split into several distinct orders. In this case Apodimorphae is a subclade of Strisores that includes the orders Aegotheliformes (only including the owlet-nightjars of Australasia) and the Apodiformes (the swifts, treeswifts, and hummingbirds which have a global distribution).[2][4][6]
The name Daedalornithes[1] is also been used for the owlet-night-apodiform clade. Daedalornithes and Apodimorphae have different definitions. Daedalornithes is defined as the crown group (the least inclusive clade including Aegotheles cristatus and Apus apus)[6] whereas Apodimorphae referring the total-group (the most inclusive clade including Aegotheles cristatus and Apus apus but not Caprimulgus europaeus, Steatornis caripensis, Nyctibius grandis, or Podargus strigoides, a definition that includes fossil lineages more closely related to Daedalornithes than they are to other Strisores)
^ abCracraft, Joel (2013), "Avian higher-level relationships and classification: Nonpasseriforms", in Dickinson, Edward C.; Van Remsen, James Jr. (eds.), Non-passerines, The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, vol. 1 (4th ed.), Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press, pp. xxi–xliii, ISBN9780956861108
^ abPrum, Richard O.; Berv, Jacob S.; Dornberg, Alex; Field, Daniel J.; Townsend, Jeffrey P.; Lemmon, Emily Moriarty; Lemmon, Alan R. (2015). "A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing". Nature. 526 (7574): 569–573. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..569P. doi:10.1038/nature15697. PMID26444237. S2CID205246158.
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