THE FOSSIL RECORD AND EVOLUTION OF MOUSEBIRDS (AVES: COLIIFORMES)

: Recent mousebirds are the smallest of the living neognathous bird orders – just two genera comprising six species. Understanding the evolutionary dynamics of this avian lineage is important because these birds occupy a critical position within Neoaves and can be used as a model for patterns of morphological diversification in other taxa. We present a review of all known fossil mousebirds (Aves: Coliiformes), which formed a diverse assemblage...