Psittacopasseres Explained

Psittacopasseres is a taxon of birds consisting of the Passeriformes (passerines, a large group of perching birds) and Psittaciformes (parrots).^[1] Per Ericson and colleagues, in analysing genomic DNA, revealed a lineage comprising passerines, psittacines and Falconiformes.^[2] The group was proposed following an alignment of nuclear intron sequences by Shannon Hackett et al. in 2008.^[3] It was formally named as Psittacopasserae in a 2011 Nature Communications article by Alexander Suh and other authors working with Jürgen Schmitz's group,^[4] based on genetic analysis of the insertion of retroposons into the genomes of key avian lineages over the course of evolution during the Mesozoic Era.

Significance in the evolution of birdsong

Passerines are renowned as songbirds (technically this word refers to a clade of passerines), and parrots share a capacity for vocal learning. Thus it is possible that vocal learning, and the corresponding variety of song, was present in a psittacopasseran ancestor.

References

1. Sangster . George . Braun . Edward L. . Johansson . Ulf S. . Kimball . Rebecca T. . Mayr . Gerald . Suh . Alexander . 2022-01-01 . Phylogenetic definitions for 25 higher-level clade names of birds . Avian Research . 13 . 100027 . 10.1016/j.avrs.2022.100027 . 2053-7166. free . 2022AvRes..1300027S .
2. Ericson . P. G. P. . Anderson . C. L. . Britton . T.. Elzanowski . A. . Johansson . U. S. . Källersjö . M. . Ohlson . J. I. . Parsons . T. J. . Zuccon . D. . 10.1098/rsbl.2006.0523 . Mayr . G. . Diversification of Neoaves: integration of molecular sequence data and fossils . Biology Letters . 2 . 4 . 543–547 . 2006 . 17148284. 1834003 .
3. A Phylogenomic Study of Birds Reveals Their Evolutionary History. Shannon J. Hackett. Science. 2008-06-07. 320. 5884. 1763–1768. 10.1126/science.1157704. 18583609. 2008Sci...320.1763H . 6472805 . etal.
4. Mesozoic retroposons reveal parrots as the closest living relatives of passerine birds. Alexander Suh. Nature Communications. 2. 2011-08-23. 8. 443. 10.1038/ncomms1448. 21863010. 3265382. 2011NatCo...2..443S . etal.