Pennaraptora

Pennaraptora (Latin penna "bird feather" + raptor "thief", from rapere "snatch"; a feathered bird-like predator) is a clade defined as the most recent common ancestor of Oviraptor philoceratops, Deinonychus antirrhopus, and Passer domesticus (the house sparrow), and all descendants thereof, by Foth et al., 2014.

Pennaraptorans Temporal range: Middle Jurassic–Present, 165–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Cast skeleton of Conchoraptor gracilis
House sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Clade:	Maniraptoriformes
Clade:	Maniraptora
Clade:	Pennaraptora Foth et al., 2014
Subgroups
†Oviraptorosauria †Scansoriopterygidae (incertae sedis) Paraves
Synonyms
Aviremigia Gauthier and de Queiroz, 2001

The clade "Aviremigia" was conditionally proposed along with several other apomorphy-based clades relating to birds by Jacques Gauthier and Kevin de Queiroz in a 2001 paper. Their proposed definition for the group was "the clade stemming from the first panavian with ... remiges and rectrices, that is, enlarged, stiff-shafted, closed-vaned (= barbules bearing hooked distal pennulae), pennaceous feathers arising from the distal forelimbs and tail". Ancestral morphology relating to pennaceous feathers suggests that basal species of Pennaraptora were capable of scansorial locomotion and gliding, and further evolution of said adaptation within the clade would eventually give rise to the origin of flight in avian species.

• Evolution of birds
• Origin of avian flight
• Origin of birds