Menura novaehollandiae (Latham 1801; 100 cm long) is the extant and very vocal superb lyrebird of Australia. This pheasant-sized runner and insectivore is only capable of weak flight, but has an ornate tail used in courtship displays.

Chrioxiphia caudata (Shaw and Nodder 1793; 15cm) is the blue manakin, native to the Amazon. Related to Menura from Australia and Musophaga from Africa, these birds split prior to the Early Cretaceous appearance of the Atlantic Ocean. Many of the skull bones are fused.

Musophaga violacea (Isert 1788; 48 cm long) is the extant violet turaco, originally considered a near-passerine. Here it nests with cuckoos. Note the large nasal hood used for display.

Paradisaea minor (Shaw 1809) is the lesser bird-of-paradise, notable for its long and robust tail feathers (see above).

Semioptera wallacii (Gray 1859) is the extant standard wing bird-of-paradise. Traditionally birds-of-paradise were nested with crows and jays, but here they nest with lyrebirds in the cuckoo clade. This one is less ornate than other birds-of-paradise.

Eozygodactylus americanus (Weidig 2010; Eocene; 53mya; FMNH PA726) Originally considered a perching songbird, this long-legged, lakeshore wading bird nests at the base of the cukoo + stork clades in the LRT. Like Geococcyx alone, pedal digit 4 is also retroverted. The caudals do not form a pygostyle.

Geococcyx californum (Lesson 1829, Wagler 1831; up to 60cm long)the extant roadrunner is a small terrestrial cuckoo/trumpeter and a basal neognath with a posteriorly rotated pedal digit 4, unrelated to parrots and toucans with a similar toe. Geococcyx nests with the cuckoo, Coccyzus and both nest with the long-legged trumpeter, Psophia.

Monias benschi (Oustalet & Grandidier 1903; 32cm long) is the extant subdesert mesite. This small running bird has a sickle-shaped bill.

Coccyzus americanus (Linneaus 1758) is the extant yellow-bellied cuckoo, with even shorter legs and longer wings on a smaller frame. This cuckoo is able to perch, using its first and fourth toes to wrap around the branch opposite the second and third toes. The basal status of this neognath is demonstrated by the thumb claw, among other traits. This taxon feeds on large insects and lizards.

Gray GR 1859. Catalogue of the Birds of the Tropical Islands of the Pacific Ocean in the Collection of the British Museum.

Isert 1788. Kurze Beschreibung und Abbildung einiger Vögel aus Guinea. - Schriften der Berlinischen Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde 9: 16-20

Latham J 1801. Supplement II to the General synopsis of birds. Supplementum indicis ornithologici sive systematis ornithologiae (in Latin). London: Leigh & Sotheby.

Lesson RP 1828, 1829. Genera des Oiseaux u Nort de l'Amérique, et Synopsis des especes qui vivent aux Etats-Unis; par Charles-Lucien Bonaparte. Féruss. Bull. 2 sect 13:122-125.

Linnaeus C 1758. Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata.

Oustalet and Grandidier G 1903. Description d'une nouvelle espèce d'Oiseau, type d'un genre nouveau, provenant de Madagascar. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, vol. 9, no. 1. 10-12.

Shaw GK and Nodder F 1793. The Naturalist's Miscellany 1789–1813.

Shaw GK 1809. General Zoology 7 pt2:486.

Wagler 1831. Einige Mitheilungen über Thiere Mexicos. Oken's Isis 24:510–535.

Weidig I 2010. New Birds from the Lower Eocene Green River Formation, North America. Records of the Australian Museum 62:29-44.

wiki/Semioptera
wiki/Trumpeter_Psophia
wiki/Geococcyx
wiki/Coccyzus
wiki/Superb_lyrebird
wiki/Subdesert_mesite
wiki/Violet_turaco
fossilworks/Eozygodactylus
wiki/Chrioxiphia Blue Manakin