In 2020, Asteriornis from the Maastrichtian was

described, it appears to be a close relation of

Galloanserae, the foremost diverging lineage within
Neognathae.( 1) utmost studies agree on a Cretaceous
age for the most recent common ancestor of
ultramodern catcalls but estimates range from the Early
Cretaceous( 3)( 51) to the rearmost Late Cretaceous.( 52)
( 4) also, there's no agreement on whether utmost of the
early diversification of ultramodern catcalls passed
before or after the Cretaceous – Palaeogene
extermination event.( 53) This disagreement is in part
caused by a divergence in the substantiation; most
molecular courting studies suggests a Cretaceous
evolutionary radiation, while fossil substantiation points
to a Cenozoic radiation( the so- called' jewels' versus'
timepieces' contestation). former attempts to attune
molecular and fossil substantiation have proved
controversial,( 53)( 54) but more recent estimates, using
a more comprehensive sample of fuds and a new way of
calibrating molecular timepieces, showed that while
according to some studies,