Prophaethontidae Explained

Prophaethontidae is an extinct family of Early Paleogene phaethontiforms that include the genera Lithoptila and Prophaethon, as well as possibly Phaethusavis and Zhylgaia. The anatomy of the prophaethontids were more similar to those of members of the order Procellariiformes than to Phaethontidae, features including nostrils that are long and slit-like, with longer wings and legs. This suggests that prophaethontids were better at swimming and being more pelagic and surface-feeding than tropicbirds are today.^[1] Such features were suggested to link the phaethontiforms with the procellariiforms,^{[2] [3]} but molecular studies do not support this and instead support a relationship between phaethontiforms and the order Eurypygiformes.^{[4] [5] [6]}

Notes and References

1. Book: Mayr, Gerald. Paleogene Fossil Birds. 2009. Springer . 978-3-540-89628-9.
2. Mayr . G . 2003 . The phylogenetic affinities of the Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) . Journal für Ornithologie . 144 . 2. 157–175 . 10.1007/bf02465644. 2003JOrni.144..157M . 36046887 .
3. Bourdon . E. . etal . 2005 . Earliest African neornithine bird: A new species of Prophaethontidae (Aves) from the Paleocene of Morocco . J. Vertebr. Paleontol. . 25 . 1. 157–170 . 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0157:eanban]2.0.co;2. 86218884 .
4. Jarvis . Erich D. . etal . 2014 . Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds . Science . 346 . 6215. 1320–1331 . 10.1126/science.1253451 . 25504713 . 4405904. 2014Sci...346.1320J .
5. Prum . R.O. . etal . 2015 . A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing . Nature . 526 . 7574 . 569–573 . 10.1038/nature15697 . 26444237 . 2015Natur.526..569P . 205246158 .
6. Braun, E.L. & Kimball, R.T. (2021) Data types and the phylogeny of Neoaves. Birds, 2(1), 1-22; https://doi.org/10.3390/birds2010001