Early Cretaceous Iteravis enters the LRT as a new last common ancestor of crown birds

Iteravis huchzermeyeri
(Zhou, O’Connor and Wang 2014 Ju et al. 2021; Early Cretaceous; IVPP V18958, Figs. 1, 2) nests between Hongshanornis and crown birds as their new last common ancestor in the large reptile tree (LRT, 2021 taxa; graphic Fig. 3).

Figure 1. Iteravis in situ.

Ju et al. 2021 found no differences between
Iteravis and Gansus. This is probabaly due to taxon exclusion as neither Megapodius nor Nahmavis (Figs. 3, 4), two basal crown birds in the LRT, are mentioned in the text.

Figure 2. Iteravis skull in situ and reconstructed.

Figure 3. Gansus skull in situ and reconstructed. Compare to Iteravis skull in figure 2. Similar, but not the same.

Zhou, O’Connor and Wang 2014
nested Gansus and Iteravis close to one another due to taxon exclusion. Here the two are distinct and derived from Hongshanornis. Traditional workers keep trying to include unrelated geese and chickens at the base of crown birds, where they don’t belong.

Figure 4. Nahmavis fossil (FMNH PA778) overall. Images from Musser and Clarke 2020.

Descendants of Early Cretaceous Iteravis evolved
to become both paleognath (e.g. Megapodius) and neognath (e.g. Nahmavis, Fig. 4) birds.

Nahmavis is a late survivor of that Early Cretaceous radiation
of crown birds known from the famous Messel Formation of the Early Eocene. It was originally considered close to the origin of gruiformes and charadriformes (Musser and Clarke 2020). Here it nests with the Kori bustard, Ardeotis, one of the largest extant flying birds in Africa at 1.3m long.

Figure 5. Taxa between Solnhofen birds and extant birds in the LRT. Click to enlarge. Here Iteravis nests as the last common ancestor of paleognath and neognath birds (= crown birds).

References
Hou L and Liu Z 1984. A new fossil bird from Lower Cretaceous of Gansu and early evolution of birds. Sci. Sin. Ser. B. 27:1296−1302.
Huang J, Wang X, Hu Y, Liu J, Peteya JA and Clarke JA 2016. A new ornithurine from the Early Cretaceous of China sheds light on the evolution of early ecological and cranial diversity in birds. PeerJ, 4: e1765. doi:10.7717/peerj.1765
Ju S-B, Wang X-R, Liu Y-C and Wang Y 2021. A reassessment of Iteravis huchzermeyeri and Gansus zheni from the Jehol Biota in western Liaoning, China. China Geology 4(2):197–204.
Li Y et al. (5 co-authors) 2011. New material of Gansus and a discussion on its habit. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 49:435–445.
Liu et al. (6 co-authors) 2014. An advanced, new long-legged bird from the Early Cretaceous of the Jehol Group (northeastern China): Insights into the temporal divergence of modern birds. Zootaxa 3884(3):253–266.
You et al. (12 co-authors) 2006. A nearly modern amphibious bird from the Early Cretaceous of Northwestern China. Science 312:1640–1643.
Zhou S, O’Connor JK and Wang M 2014. A new species from an ornithuromorph (Aves: Ornithothoraces) dominated locality of the Jehol Biota. Chinese Science Bulletin 59(36):5366–5378,

wiki/Iteravis – not yet posted
wiki/Gansus