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Pygostylia is a group of which includes the Confuciusornithidae and all of the groups more closely related to Bird.
Cladogram following the results of a phylogenetic study by Jingmai O'Connor and colleagues in 2016:O’Connor, J.K., Wang X., Zheng X., Hu H., Zhang X., & Zhou Z. (2016). An Enantiornithine with a Fan-Shaped Tail, and the Evolution of the Rectricial Complex in Early Birds. Current Biology, 26(1): 114-119.
In 2023, Li et al recovered their new taxon, Cratonavis, as the new jinguofortisid that belongs to Pygostylia. The results of their phylogenetic analyses are shown in the cladogram below:
Pygostylia has been recovered as being within the clade Avebrevicauda. Avebrevicauda (meaning "birds with short tails") is a group of birds which includes all Avialae species with ten or fewer free vertebrae in the tail. The group was named in 2002 by Gregory S. Paul to distinguish short-tailed avialans from their ancestors, such as Archaeopteryx, which had long, reptilian tails.Paul, G.S. (2002). Dinosaurs of the Air. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 460 pp. Depending on the analysis, Sapeornis may or may not be a member of Pygostylia, but is always within Avebrevicauda. Depending on the true phylogenetic position of Sapeornis, Avebrevicauda may be a junior synonym of Pygostylia.
The pygostylians fall into two distinct groups with regard to the pygostyle. The Ornithothoraces have a ploughshare-shaped pygostyle, while the more primitive members had longer, rod-shaped pygostyles.
The earliest known member of the group is the Enantiornithes species Protopteryx fengningensis, from the Sichakou Member of the Huajiying Formation of China, which dates to around 131 Ma ago,O'Connor, J.K., Zhou Z. and Zhang F., 2011. A reappraisal of Boluochia zhengi (Aves: Enantiornithes) and a discussion of intraclade diversity in the Jehol avifauna, China. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, (published online before print 16 December 2010). though at least one other enantiornithine, Noguerornis, may be even older, at up to 145.5 million years ago, though its exact age is uncertain.Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, Winter 2011 Appendix.
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