Whence the birds: 200 years of dinosaurs, avian antecedents
Biology Letters,
Journal Year:
2025,
Volume and Issue:
21(1)
Published: Jan. 1, 2025
Among
the
most
revolutionary
insights
emerging
from
200
years
of
research
on
dinosaurs
is
that
clade
Dinosauria
represented
by
approximately
11
000
living
species
birds.
Although
origin
birds
among
has
been
reviewed
extensively,
recent
have
witnessed
tremendous
progress
in
our
understanding
deep
evolutionary
origins
numerous
distinctive
avian
anatomical
systems.
These
advances
enabled
exciting
new
fossil
discoveries,
leading
to
an
ever-expanding
phylogenetic
framework
with
which
pinpoint
characteristic
features.
The
present
review
focuses
four
notable
systems
whose
Mesozoic
history
greatly
clarified
discoveries:
brain,
kinetic
palate,
pectoral
girdle
and
postcranial
skeletal
pneumaticity.
Language: Английский
The Lithornithiformes (Aves) from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton‐on‐the‐Naze (Essex, UK)
Papers in Palaeontology,
Journal Year:
2025,
Volume and Issue:
11(1)
Published: Jan. 1, 2025
Abstract
We
describe
multiple
partial
skeletons
and
isolated
bones
of
the
palaeognathous
Lithornithiformes
from
early
Eocene
London
Clay
Walton‐on‐the‐Naze
(Essex,
UK).
The
well‐preserved
specimens
are
assigned
to
at
least
four
species
taxa
Lithornis
Pseudocrypturus.
Two
identified
as
L.
nasi
cf.
grandei
.
latter
species,
which
was
established
for
fossils
North
American
Green
River
Formation,
initially
monotypic
taxon
Calciavis
,
is
here
considered
synonymous
with
further
new
tentatively
referred
Pseudocrypturus
described
?
P.
danielsi
gracilipes
In
previous
analyses,
lithornithiforms
most
often
resulted
sister
either
Tinamiformes
or
all
crown
group
Palaeognathae.
detail
that
current
morphological
evidence
conforms
best
a
position
these
birds
outside
Palaeognathae
discuss
previously
unrecognized
plesiomorphic
features
foot
pelvis,
support
this
phylogenetic
placement.
Language: Английский
Cretaceous bird from Brazil informs the evolution of the avian skull and brain
Nature,
Journal Year:
2024,
Volume and Issue:
635(8038), P. 376 - 381
Published: Oct. 30, 2024
Abstract
A
dearth
of
Mesozoic-aged,
three-dimensional
fossils
hinders
understanding
the
origin
distinctive
skull
and
brain
modern
(crown)
birds
1
.
Here
we
report
Navaornis
hestiae
gen.
et
sp.
nov.,
an
exquisitely
preserved
fossil
species
from
Late
Cretaceous
Brazil.
The
is
toothless
large-eyed,
with
a
vaulted
cranium
closely
resembling
condition
in
crown
birds;
however,
phylogenetic
analyses
recover
Enantiornithes,
highly
diverse
clade
Mesozoic
stem
birds.
Despite
overall
geometry
quantitatively
indistinguishable
birds,
retains
numerous
plesiomorphies
including
maxilla-dominated
rostrum,
akinetic
palate,
diapsid
temporal
configuration,
small
cerebellum
weakly
expanded
telencephalon.
These
archaic
neurocranial
traits
are
combined
bird-like
degree
flexion
bony
labyrinth
comparable
shape
to
those
many
but
substantially
larger.
Altogether,
emergent
cranial
shows
unprecedented
similarity
between
enantiornithines,
groups
last
sharing
common
ancestor
more
than
130
million
years
ago
2
provides
long-sought
insight
into
detailed
endocranial
morphology
phylogenetically
crownward
Archaeopteryx
,
clarifying
pattern
timing
by
which
neuroanatomy
living
was
assembled.
Language: Английский