Novaeratitae is a proposed clade that was originally defined to contain the recent common ancestors of the orders Casuariiformes (emus and cassowaries) and Apterygiformes (kiwis).[1][2] Recently it has been determined that the elephant birds of the extinct order Aepyornithiformes were the closest relatives of the kiwis, and therefore are part of this group.[3] The implication is that ratites had lost flight independently in each group, as the elephant birds are the only novaeratites found outside Oceania.[3] This clade has been contested by other studies, which find the relationships between the four main clades of non-ostrich palaeognaths (moa+tinamou, kiwi+elephant bird, rheas, and emus+cassowaries) to be an unresolved polytomy, with only slightly more genetic support for Novaeritiae over alternative proposals.[4]
| Novaeratitae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Portrait of a southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Infraclass: | Palaeognathae |
| Clade: | Novaeratitae Yuri et al., 2013 |
| Orders | |