3 ms·

Dinosaurs are reptiles of the Dinosauria clade. Just because birds have an ancestry that stems from dinosaurs doesn't mean they are dinosaurs.

• dragonwriter 5y ago
  > Dinosaurs are reptiles of the Dinosauria clade. Just because birds have an ancestry that stems from dinosaurs doesn't mean they are dinosaurs. In phylogenetic taxonomy: (1) that's exactly what it means, and (2) that's why Aves is within Dinosauria.
  • ravenstine 5y ago
    Except they're not within Dinosauria. Aves is within Sauropsida. EDIT: I guess they're within a clade Avialae that is nested under Dinosauria. So yes, it looks like you are right.
    • dragonwriter 5y ago
      You seem to be getting confused by Wikipedia’s treatment of lists of taxonomic categories, where it randomly excludes levels (particularly in sequences of clades) in the middle. If you read the actual description of taxonomic categories, or follow the chain, or use a source which doesn't randomly omit levels in lists, or consider why Dinosauria and one particular branch at every level below it is not marked extinct, you would see that you are wrong.