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Summary phylogenetic hypothesis of paleognath familial relationships (Cooper et al., 2001; Haddrath and Baker, 2001). The basal family within the ratites appears to be either Rheidae or Dinornithidae.  Placement of the extinct Elephantbirds (Aepyornithidae) is unclear.

Containing group: Neornithes

References

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Ansari, H., N. Kakagi, and M. Sasaki. 1988. Morphological differentiation of sex chromosomes in three species of ratite birds. Cytogenetics and Cell Genetics 47: 185-188.

Baccetti, B., A. G. Burrini, and E. Falchetti. 1991. Spermatozoa and relationships in palaeognath birds. Biology of the Cell 71: 209-216.

de Boer, L. E. M. 1980. Do the chromosomes of the kiwi provide evidence for a monophyletic origin of the ratites? Nature 287: 84-85.

Caspers, G. J., J. Wattel, and W. W. de Jong. 1994. Alpha A-crystallin sequences group tinamou with ratites. Molecular Biology and Evolution 11: 711-713.

Cooper, A., C. Lalueza-Fox, S. Anderson, A. Rambaut, J. Austin, and R. Ward. 2001. Complete mitochondrial genome sequences of two extinct moas clarify ratite evolution. Nature 409: 704-707.

Cooper, A., C. Mourer-Chauvir?, G. K. Chambers, A. von Haeseler, A. C. Wilson, and S. P??bo. 1992. Independent origins of New Zealand moas and kiwis. Proceedings of the national Academy of Sciences of the USA 89: 8741-8744.

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Davies, S. J. J. F. 1967. Sexual dimorphism in the emu. Emu 67: 23-26.

Davies, S. J. J. F. 2002. Ratites and Tinamous. Oxford University Press, New York.

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Freitag, S., and T. J. Robinson. 1993. Phylogeographic patterns in mitochondrial DNA of the ostrich (Struthio camelus). Auk 110: 614-622.

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Harrath, O., and A. J. Baker. 2001. Complete mitochondrial genome sequences of extinct birds: ratite phylogenetics and the vicariance biogeography hypothesis. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Biological Sciences 268: 939-945.

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Lee, K., J. Feinstein, and J. Cracraft. 1997. The phylogeny of ratite birds: resolving conflicts between molecular and morphological data sets. Pp 173-208 in D. P. Mindell (ed.), Avian Molecular Evolution and Systematics. Academic Press, San Diego.

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Parkse, K. C., and G. A. Clark Jr. 1966. An additional character linking ratites and tinamous, and an interpretation of their monophyly. Condor 68: 459-471.

Prager, E. M., A. C. Wilson, D. T. Osuga, and R. E. Feeney. 1976. Evolution of flightless land birds on southern continents: Transferrin comparison shows monophyletic origin of ratites. Journal of Molecular Evolution 8: 283-94.

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