Which of the following is NOT a member of the Aves (birds) class?

Correct — D. Pteropus is the genus of the flying foxes, the large fruit bats, and bats sit in class Mammalia, order Chiroptera.

Bats are the only mammals capable of true, sustained flight, and that is exactly what makes the trap work: a flying vertebrate reads as a bird until you look for feathers instead of wings.

The other three names are all bird genera, so the one outside Aves is option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Psittacula — Psittacula is the parakeet genus, the rose-ringed parakeet among them — feathered, beaked and squarely inside Aves.
• (b)
  Struthio — Struthio is the ostrich. It cannot fly, but flight is not what defines the class: feathers and a toothless beak do, and the ostrich has both.
• (c)
  Neophron — Neophron is the Egyptian vulture, a scavenging bird of prey and a member of Aves.

Aves are defined by feathers, forelimbs modified into wings, a beak without teeth, light pneumatic bones and laying eggs.

Mammalia are defined by hair, mammary glands and external ear pinnae, with the young usually born live.

The two classes share a good deal — both are warm-blooded and both have a four-chambered heart — so neither warm blood nor flight will separate them. Feathers against hair, and eggs against milk, will.

Key facts

• Pteropus is the genus of flying foxes, fruit bats of class Mammalia and order Chiroptera.
• Bats are the only mammals capable of true, sustained flight.
• Struthio camelus, the ostrich, is the largest living bird.
• Neophron percnopterus is the Egyptian vulture.

Common traps

• Deciding by flight — Struthio does not fly and is still a bird.
• Skipping over an unfamiliar genus name instead of translating it into the animal it denotes.

No directly related past PYQ was found.