Belongs within: Telluraves.
Contains: Trogonidae, Bucerotidae, Upupiformes, Coraciiformes, Piciformes.
The Coliiformes include the colies or mousebirds, small long-tailed arboreal birds found in sub-Saharan Africa. Though a small group in the modern fauna, represented only by the two genera Colius and Urocolius (treated by some authors as a single genus), fossil representatives of the Coliiformes are known from the Palaeogene of Europe and North America (Mayr 2005).
<==CoraciimorphaeJM14 |--ColiiformesJM14 | |--Sandcoleidae [Sandcoleiformes]M05 | | | i. s.: ‘Eobucco’ brodkorbi Feduccia & Martin 1976M09 | | |--Botauroides parvus Shufeldt 1915M09 | | |--Sandcoleus Houde & Olson 1992M05 | | | `--S. copiosus Houde & Olson 1992M04 | | |--Anneavis Houde & Olson 1992M05 | | | `--A. anneae Houde & Olson 1992M04 | | |--Eoglaucidium Fischer 1987M05, Ml02 | | | `--*E. pallas Fischer 1987Ml02 | | |--UintornisM09 | | | |--U. lucaris Marsh 1872M09 | | | `--U. marionae Feduccia & Martin 1976M09 | | `--Tsidiiyazhi Ksepka, Stidham & Williamson 2017KSW17 | | `--*T. abini Ksepka, Stidham & Williamson 2017KSW17 | `--+--ChascacocoliusKSW17 | | |--C. cacicirostris Mayr 2005M09 | | `--C. oscitans Houde & Olson 1992M09 | `--ColiidaeM05 | | i. s.: Palaeospiza [Palaeospizidae]M09 | | `--P. bella Allen 1878M09 | |--+--Eocolius walkeri Dyke & Waterhouse 2001M05 | | `--Selmes Peters 1999M05, Ml02 | | `--*S. absurdipes Peters 1999Ml02 | `--+--Masillacolius Mayr & Peters 1998M05, Ml02 | | `--*M. brevidactylus Mayr & Peters 1998Ml02 | `--+--Oligocolius Mayr 2000M05 | | |--*O. brevitarsus Mayr 2000Ml02 | | `--O. psittacocephalonKSW17 | |--Primocolius Mourer-Chauviré 1988M05 | | |--*P. sigei Mourer-Chauviré 1988Ml02 | | `--P. minor Mourer-Chauviré 1988Ml02 | `--+--Urocolius Bonaparte 1854M05, Ml02 (see below for synonymy) | | |--U. archiaci (Milne-Edwards 1871) (see below for synonymy)Ml02 | | `--U. macrourusKK05 [=Colius macrourusFP64] | `--Colius Brisson 1760M05, Ml02 [incl. Necrornis Milne-Edwards 1871Ml02] | | i. s.: C. castanotusJT12 | | C. hendeyi Rich & Haarhoff 1985B93 | | C. palustris (Milne-Edwards 1871) [=*Necrornis palustris]Ml02 | |--C. leucocephalusBKB15 | `--+--‘Urocolius’ indicusBKB15 [=U. macrourus indicusKK05] | `--+--C. coliusBKB15 | `--C. striatusJT12 | |--C. s. striatusS05 | `--C. s. leucotis Rüppell 1839S05 `--+--+--TrogonidaeJM14 | `--+--Bucerotiformes [Bucerotes]JM14 | | |--BucerotidaeMa02 | | `--UpupiformesMa02 | `--+--CoraciiformesJM14 | `--PiciformesJM14 `--LeptosomiformesJM14 |--Leptosomus Vieillot 1816HK08, B94 (see below for synonymy) | |--L. aferS66 | `--L. discolorMa02 `--Plesiocathartes Gaillard 1908Ma02 [PlesiocathartidaeJM14] |--*P. europaeus Gaillard 1908Ml02 |--P. gaillardi Crusafont & Villalta 1955Ma02 |--P. geiselensis Mayr 2002M09 |--P. kelleri Mayr 2002Ma02 |--P. major Weidig 2006M09 `--P. wyomingensis Weidig 2009M09
Leptosomus Vieillot 1816HK08, B94 [=Leptosoma (l. c.) nec Leach 1819 nec Fitzinger 1843 nec Stafford 1904B94; Leptosomatinae, Leptosomidae, Leptosominae]
Urocolius Bonaparte 1854M05, Ml02 [incl. Limnatornis Milne-Edwards 1871Ml02, Palaeopicus Brodkorb 1952Ml02]
Urocolius archiaci (Milne-Edwards 1871) [=Picus archiaci, Colius archiaci, *Palaeopicus archiaci; incl. Picus consobrinus Milne-Edwards 1871, Pa. consobrinus, *Limnatornis paludicola Milne-Edwards 1871, Colus paludicola]Ml02
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
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[B93] Brooke, R. K. 1993. Annotated catalogue of the Aves type specimens in the South African Museum. Annals of the South African Museum 102 (10): 327–349.
[BKB15] Burleigh, J. G., R. T. Kimball & E. L. Braun. 2015. Building the avian tree of life using a large-scale, sparse supermatrix. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 53–63.
[FP64] Fisher, J., & R. T. Peterson. 1964. The World of Birds: A comprehensive guide to general ornithology. Macdonald: London.
[HK08] Hackett, S. J., R. T. Kimball, S. Reddy, R. C. K. Bowie, E. L. Braun, M. J. Braun, J. L. Chojnowski, W. A. Cox, K.-L. Han, J. Harshman, C. J. Huddleston, B. D. Marks, K. J. Miglia, W. S. Moore, F. H. Sheldon, D. W. Steadman, C. C. Witt & T. Yuri. 2008. A phylogenomic study of birds reveals their evolutionary history. Science 320: 1763–1768.
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[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444–448.
[KK05] Kloet, R. S. de, & S. R. de Kloet. 2005. The evolution of the spindlin gene in birds: sequence analysis of an intron of the spindlin W and Z gene reveals four major divisions of the Psittaciformes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 36: 706–721.
[KSW17] Ksepka, D. T., T. A. Stidham & T. E. Williamson. 2017. Early Paleocene landbird supports rapid phylogenetic and morphological diversification of crown birds after the K–Pg mass extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 114 (30): 8047–8052.
[Ma02] Mayr, G. 2002. A new species of Plesiocathartes (Aves: ?Leptosomidae) from the Middle Eocene of Messel, Germany. PaleoBios 22 (1): 10–20.
[M04] Mayr, G. 2004. The phylogenetic relationships of the early Tertiary Primoscenidae and Sylphornithidae and the sister taxon of crown group piciform birds. Journal of Ornithology 145: 188–198.
[M05] Mayr, G. 2005. The Paleogene fossil record of birds in Europe. Biological Reviews 80: 515–542.
[M09] Mayr, G. 2009. Paleogene Fossil Birds. Springer.
[Ml02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.
[S66] Schlegel, H. 1866. Communication from, on mammals and birds collected in Madagascar. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 419–426.
[S05] Steinheimer, F. D. 2005. Eduard Rüppel’s avian types at the Natural History Museum, Tring (Aves). Senckenbergiana Biologica 85 (2): 233–264.