| Critique |
A cladogram in a short paper on bird origins introduced, as labeled branch points, seven new higher taxa (Ji and Ji 2001:fig. 1). None of these taxa ( Metatheropoda, Aptilonia, Eoptilonia, Chuniaoia, Dromavialae, Aerialae, Orthornithes) were given definitions or discussed further. Aerialae was placed at an unresolved trichotomy uniting Sinornis, Confuciusornis, and Neornithes that could have been labeledwith the earlier taxon Ornithothoraces.
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