@article{sternberg1940a7, author = "Sternberg, C. M", title = "A toothless bird from the Cretaceous of Alberta", year = "1940", journal = "Journal of Paleontology, v. 14, p. 81-85", note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Sternberg, C. M., 1940, A toothless bird from the Cretaceous of Alberta: Journal of Paleontology, v. 14, p. 81-85.}" } @misc{gingerich1973skull1, author = "Gingerich, P. D", title = "Skull of Hesperornis and the early evolution of birds", year = "1973", howpublished = "Nature, v. 243, p. 70-73", note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Gingerich, P. D., 1973, Skull of Hesperornis and the early evolution of birds: Nature, v. 243, p. 70-73.}" } @article{doi101111j1474919x1974tb07648x, author = "Cracraft, Joël", title = "PHYLOGENY AND EVOLUTION OF THE RATITE BIRDS", year = "1974", journal = "Ibis", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919x.1974.tb07648.x", doi = "10.1111/j.1474-919x.1974.tb07648.x", openalex = "W2086904451" } @misc{harrison1975the2, author = "Harrison, C. J. O. and Walker, C. A", title = "The Bradycnemidae, a new family of owls from the Upper Cretaceous of Romania", year = "1975", howpublished = "Palaeontology, v. 18, p. 563- 570", note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Harrison, C. J. O., and Walker, C. A., 1975, The Bradycnemidae, a new family of owls from the Upper Cretaceous of Romania: Palaeontology, v. 18, p. 563- 570.}" } @article{doi101111j109583121976tb00244x, author = "Ostrom, John H.", title = "Archaeopteryx and the origin of birds", year = "1976", journal = "Biological Journal of the Linnean Society", abstract = "The question of the origin of birds can be equated with the origin of Archaeopteryx, the oldest known bird. Analysis of the five presently known skeletal specimens of Archaeopteryx. and comparison with the skeletal anatomy of the several reptilian groups that have been proposed as possible ancestors of birds (Ornithopoda, Theropoda, Hseudosuchla and Sphenosuchidac), confirm the conclusions (long rejected by most subsequent workers) of Heilmann (1926), Lowe (1935, 1944) and Holmgren (1955), namely, that the skeletal anatomy of Archaeopteryx is extraordinarily similar to that of contemporaneous and succeeding coelurosaurian dinosaurs. Rejection of these similarities as adaptive structures only (parallel or convergent similarities), and therefore of no phylogenetic importance, is here considered invalid. Heilmann was the first to identify the only evidence that has been cited so far for dismissing coelurosaurian-avian ancestral–descendant relationships, the supposed absence of clavicles in all theropods, and on that basis suggested a common Archaeopteryx–dinosaur ancestry among pseudosuchian reptiles. That evidence is negative and thus inconclusive, and is now known to be false. With the exception of fused clavicles and unique ischial morphology, virtually every skeletal feature of Archaeopteryx is known in several contemporaneous or near-contemporary coelurosaurian dinosaurs and many of these conditions are unrelated, specialized features (the detailed morphology of the manus, metacarpus, carpus, humerus, scapulocoracoid, pes, metatarsus, tarsus, femur, pubis, ilium, skull and mandibles). The presence of so many derived characters in common clearly establishes that the closest ancestral affinities ot Archaeopteryx are with coelurosaurian theropods. There is no contrary evidence and any other explanation is illogical. All available evidence indicates unequivocally that Archaeopteryx evolved from a small coelurosaurian dinosaur and that modern birds are surviving dinosaurian descendants. Stated simply, avian phylogeny was: Pseudosuchia Coelurosauria Archaeopteryx higher birds. The question of the origin of birds can be equated with the question of the origin of Archaeopteryx. This last question evokes two possible answers, depending upon how one views the importance of “primitive versus derived characters” in assessing phylogenetic relationships. One possible answer is: Archaeopteryx is a direct descendant of some unknown, but presumably Euparkeria-like pseudosuchian. This answer is predicated on the belief that Archaeopteryx only parallels or converges with various coelurosaurs in certain skeletal similarities. This is the view now held by the majority of biologists– a view that I find unacceptable. The second possible answer is: Archaeopteryx is directly descendant from a small unknown Ornitholestes-like coelurosaurian dinosaur. This answer assumes that skeletal similarities between coelurosaurs and Archaeopteryx are derived from a common ancestor, itself a coelurosaur. This is the view advocated here. There is no evidence to support an ornithischian ancestry of birds. The pubis of Archaeopteryx apparently was not reflected backward as in ornithischians and modern birds, and in any case, the ornithischian pubis is only superficially like that of living birds. Nor is the so-called ornithopod foot like that of birds. Evidence of close theropod–Archaeopteryx relationships, however, is abundant: the presence of the same, multiple, specialized adaptations in both Archaeopteryx and various coelurosaurs (tridactyl manus, metacarpus and carpus morphology, forelimb and pectoral girdle structure, four-toed pes, reversed hallux, metatarsal morphology, mesotarsal joint, hindlimb construction, pelvic form, plus elongated forelimbs, bipedal posture, vertebral structure and formula, and basic cranial morphology). The presence in Archaeopteryx, coelurosaurs and pseudosuchians of several primitive characters in common (thecodont dentition, sclerotic ring, possibly amphicoelous vertebrae, long caudal series, gastralia, pubic symphysis, short coracoids) indicates only a probable common ancestry. It does not establish that the Coelurosauria could not have given rise to Archaeopteryx–and higher birds. There is no evidence (outside of Lagosuchus and Lagerpeton) of shared derived characters to suggest a close evolutionary relationship between classic pseudosuchians and Archaeopteryx. Similarly, there is no clear-cut evidence in the form of shared derived characters to link Archaeopteryx with Sphenosuchus. The absence of clavicles in theropods (now known to be false), once considered as conclusive evidence against a coelurosaurian ancestry of birds, is no more significant than is the absence of a sternum in all known pseudosuchians as evidence against a pseudosuchian ancestry of all other archosaurs. The absence of any known “ideal” coelurosaurian pre-Archaeopteryx is only negative and inconclusive evidence, especially in view of our meagre and exceedingly deficient knowledge about Early and Middle Jurassic terrestrial vertebrates. All available evidence indicates that the immediate ancestor of Archaeopteryx was a small coelurosaurian dinosaur and that the phylogeny of avian ancestry was: Pseudosuchia–Coelurosauria–Archaeopteryx:– higher birds. Ornithopod-Archaeopteryx ancestral-descendant affinities may be dismissed because of the false “avian” organization of the pelvis in the Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx and the merely superficially bird-like construction of the ornithisehian pelvis. The suite of specialized characters unique to ornithischians (e.g., predentary, tooth morphology), that occur even in Triassic representatives, is further evidence for dismissing close affinity between ornithopods and Archaeopteryx. The supposed close relationship between birds and pseudosuchians is judged to be remote at best, due to the completely primitive nature of the few anatomical features which pseudosuchians have in common with Archaeopteryx. Sphenosuchus, a primitive and early archosaur, is also a potential avian ancestor, but existing evidence consists of primitive archosaurian features plus a few similarities with certain modern birds. These similarities, which are present in two groups that are separated from each other by more than 200 million years, and which cannot be demonstrated in Archaeopteryx, are considered irrelevant to the origins of Archaeopteryx and subsequent birds.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.1976.tb00244.x", doi = "10.1111/j.1095-8312.1976.tb00244.x", openalex = "W2090677329", references = "doi101002jmor1051140102, doi10103714088000, doi101038248168a0, doi101086407902, doi101098rstb19610007, doi101098rstb19650003, doi101111j146979981913tb06148x, doi101139e72031, doi101146annurevea03050175000415, doi101146annureven10010165000525, doi10129879781933789439, doi1023071292217, doi1023071441916, doi104095101672, doi104095105003, doi105281zenodo1040385, doi105479si03629236110i, doi105962bhltitle59991, doi105962bhltitle68064, doi107312simp92414, gilmore1924a, openalexw1879660213, openalexw3146596760, openalexw607142922, ostrom2019osteology, ostrom2020stratigraphy, russell1969a, walker1964triassic" } @article{doi10108002724634198110011900, author = "Currie, Philip J.", title = "Bird footprints from the Gething Formation (Aptian, Lower Cretaceous) of northeastern British Columbia, Canada", year = "1981", journal = "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology", abstract = "ABSTRACT A large slab of arenaceous siltstone was collected from strata of the Gething Formation (Aptian, Lower Cretaceous) in the Peace River Canyon of northeastern British Columbia, Canada. More than 200 footprints between 2.0 and 4.4 cm in length were found on a single bedding plane within the slab. These were made by a minimum of four individuals that apparently were feeding. The footprints have an average divarication of 113° and a correlated width to length ratio of 1.26, which fall within the range encountered in birds. Divarication between digits II and IV in even the smallest dinosaurs never exceeds 100° on an average per trackway. Other characteristics support the identification of these tracks from the Peace River Canyon as having been made by birds. The new genus and species, Aquatilavipes swiboldae, is the earliest known record of bird footprints, and probably represents a primitive taxon of marsh-dwelling bird.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1981.10011900", doi = "10.1080/02724634.1981.10011900", openalex = "W2068872705", references = "doi101007978364265923214, doi1010160031018279901147, doi101038261129a0, doi10108001584197196611797177, doi1011639789004631793, doi102475ajss521125441, doi104095105049, doi105281zenodo16246150, openalexw2069202983, openalexw23418293, openalexw3146596760" } @misc{hou1984a3, author = "Hou, L. and Zhicheng, L", title = "A new fossil bird from the Lower Cretaceous of Gansu, and the early evolution of birds", year = "1984", howpublished = "Sci. Sinica B, v. XXVII, p. 1296- 1302", note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Hou, L., and Zhicheng, L., 1984, A new fossil bird from the Lower Cretaceous of Gansu, and the early evolution of birds: Sci. Sinica B, v. XXVII, p. 1296- 1302.}" } @inproceedings{kesler1984lower4, author = "Kesler, E", title = "Lower Cretaceous Birds from Cornet (Roumania), in Reif, W. E., and Westphal, F., eds., Third Symposium on Terrestrial Mesozoic Ecosystems", year = "1984", booktitle = "Tbingen, ATTEMPTO-Verlag, p. 119-121", note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Kesler, E., 1984, Lower Cretaceous Birds from Cornet (Roumania), in Reif, W. E., and Westphal, F., eds., Third Symposium on Terrestrial Mesozoic Ecosystems: Tbingen, ATTEMPTO-Verlag, p. 119-121.}" } @article{doi1010160195667185900503, author = "Курочкин, Е. Н.", title = "A true carinate bird from lower Cretaceous deposits in Mongolia and other evidence of early Cretaceous birds in Asia", year = "1985", journal = "Cretaceous Research", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/0195-6671(85)90050-3", doi = "10.1016/0195-6671(85)90050-3", openalex = "W1998105085" } @misc{kurochkin1985a5, author = "Kurochkin, E. N", title = "A true carinate bird from Lower Cretaceous deposits in Mongolia and other evidence of early Cretaceous birds in Asia", year = "1985", howpublished = "Cretaceous Research, v. 6, p. 271-278", note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Kurochkin, E. N., 1985, A true carinate bird from Lower Cretaceous deposits in Mongolia and other evidence of early Cretaceous birds in Asia: Cretaceous Research, v. 6, p. 271-278.}" } @article{doi101017s0094837300003122, author = "Cracraft, Joël", title = "The origin and early diversification of birds", year = "1986", journal = "Paleobiology", abstract = "Numerical cladistic analysis of 73 cranial and postcranial characters has resulted in a highly corroborated hypothesis describing the phylogenetic pattern of early avian evolution. Using “non-avian theropod” dinosaurs as a comparative outgroup and root for the tree, the analysis confirmed Archaeopteryx to be the sister-group of all remaining avian taxa, or Ornithurae. This latter taxon is subdivided into two lineages, the Hesperornithiformes and the Carinatae. The carinates, in turn, were also resolved into two sister-groups, the Ichthyornithiformes and the modern birds, or Neornithes. This paper provides morphological data corroborating the divergence of the two basal clades of the Neornithes: the Palaeognathae (tinamous and ratites) and Neognathae (all other modern birds). The phylogenetic relationships of four important Cretaceous taxa were also investigated, but these fossil taxa were too fragmentary to determine their phylogenetic position unambiguously. Alexornis and Ambiortus are both carinates, but their relationships cannot be resolved in greater detail. The relationships of the Enantiornithes may lie within the Carinatae or these two taxa may be sister-groups. Gobipteryx is a neornithine and possibly the sister-group of the Palaeognathae. This analysis indicates that major patterns of morphological change took place at the time of origin of the ancestors of the Ornithurae and the Carinatae. Ornithurine innovations included major changes throughout the skeleton, whereas those of the carinates, while substantial, were primarily restricted to the pectoral girdle and forelimb. The phylogenetic results, in conjunction with the known ages of fossil taxa, indicate that the early lineages of birds very likely arose in the Jurassic. The early cladistic events within the neornithine lineage are also more ancient than generally recognized, and may well extend back to the early Cretaceous.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/s0094837300003122", doi = "10.1017/s0094837300003122", openalex = "W2487566718" } @misc{sanz1988unusual6, author = "Sanz, J. L. and Bonaparte, J. F. and Lacasa, A", title = "Unusual Early Cretaceous birds from Spain", year = "1988", howpublished = "Nature, v. 331, p. 433-435", note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Sanz, J. L., Bonaparte, J. F., and Lacasa, A., 1988, Unusual Early Cretaceous birds from Spain: Nature, v. 331, p. 433-435.}" } @article{doi101017s247526300000091x, author = "Gauthier, Jacques A. and Padian, Kevin", title = "The Origin of Birds and the Evolution of Flight", year = "1989", journal = "Short Courses in Paleontology", abstract = "One of the most salient advances in vertebrate paleontology in recent decades has been the settling of the question of the origin of birds, a problem that has vexed evolutionary biologists since well before Darwin. To be sure, the consensus is not unanimous, and many details of this branch of the phylogenetic tree are yet to be worked out, but we now have a much clearer picture of this problem than we had a decade ago. Less settled, but equally stimulating, has been the controversy over the origin of flight in birds and other flying vertebrates. Was there a gliding stage? Did flight begin from the ground up or from the trees down? Were birds initially arboreal? What selective pressures drove the ancestors of birds to take advantage of the aerial opportunity?", url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/s247526300000091x", doi = "10.1017/s247526300000091x", openalex = "W3158295341" } @article{doi101098rstb19910056, author = "Chatterjee, Sankar", title = "Cranial anatomy and relationships of a new Triassic bird from Texas", year = "1991", journal = "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences", abstract = "Abstract The oldest known fossil bird from the Late Triassic (about 225 million years ago) Dockum Formation of Texas, provides insights into the anatomy, evolution and phylogenetic relationships of early birds. In life, this adult bird was about the size of a pheasant (Phasianus) counting its long bony tail. Many characters of the skull show that the Texas species is more closely related to other birds than to any known group of archosaurs. The skull is lightly built, pneumatized, with an enormous orbit and expanded temporal region. The teeth are restricted to the tip of the jaws, the posterior teeth having been lost. The temporal region is modified from the diapsid condition, as in modern birds, where the orbit is confluent with the upper and lower temporal openings because of the breakdown of the temporal arcades. The relatively large brain size and the modification of the brain architecture in avian fashion show neurosensory specializations that may be associated with balance, coordination, flight, agility and high metabolic activity. The new species had binocular vision, which suggests that it was a visually oriented predator. Auditory acuity may be associated with vocal behaviour. The quadrate was streptostylic and the whole upper jaw was moved prokinetically as in modern birds. Among current hypotheses for the relationships of birds among archosaurs, both theropod and crocodilian hypotheses have been supported by shared apomorphies. Some of the avian features in the crocodilian skull may have been acquired convergently because of homoplasy. Conversely, the highly akinetic skull and monimostylic quadrate along with primitive brain architecture in early crocodylomorphs negate its close phyletic relationships with birds. Within archosaurs, the theropods are closest to birds, but just what taxon is the sister group among theropods is uncertain at this time. Numerical cladistic analysis of 30 cranial characters generated a hypothesis of the phylogenetic pattern of early avian evolution. By using theropods and sphenosuchids as comparative outgroups and root for the tree, the analysis confirms the monophyly of the class Aves. Archaeopteryx is the most primitive taxon and is sister group to all other birds. Archaeoptryx, Avimimus and the Texas bird are suc cessively closer to the remaining avian taxa or Ornithurae. Hesprom, Ichthyornis and Gobipteryx are the Cretaceous representatives of the Ornithurae. The Triassic bird extends the known avian record back at least 75 million years and documents an early stage in the evolution of modern birds. The avian skull evolved in response to two functional requirem ents: efficient feeding mechanism, leading to the development of cranial kinesis, and neurosensory specializations leading to the enlargement of the braincase and orbit. Cranial kinesis, braincase inflation and otic specialization greatly modified the architecture of early avian skulls from the theropod condition. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that theropods shared a common ancestry with birds, but it is indeterminate from the fossil record whether or not the immediate common ancestor itself was a theropod.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1991.0056", doi = "10.1098/rstb.1991.0056", openalex = "W2106587915", references = "crossref1976allosaurus, doi101016b978012249408650011x, doi101038142004a0, doi101111j109583121976tb00244x, doi101111j155856461951tb02756x, doi1023072407154, doi1023072413134, doi1023072806339, doi1023073514548, openalexw1489366593, openalexw3135630760" } @book{doi102307jctt1xp3v3r, author = "Sibley, Charles G. and Ahlquist, Jon E.", title = "Phylogeny and Classification of the Birds", year = "1991", booktitle = "Yale University Press eBooks", abstract = "Part 1: a brief history structure and properties of DNA gene structure and function genetic regulation DNA reassociation and thermal stability the sequence organization of the genome the families of repeated DNA homology comparative DNA-DNA studies materials and methods data analysis tempo of evolution demographic factors and rates of DNA evolution a chronological survey of the classification of birds principles and methods of classification classification of birds based on DNA-DNA hybridization melting curves and dendrograms. Part 2: accounts of the groups of birds.", url = "https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1xp3v3r", doi = "10.2307/j.ctt1xp3v3r", openalex = "W1564490336" } @article{doi101098rstb19920051, author = "Lockley, Martin G. and Yang, Seong Young and Matsukawa, Masaki and Fleming, Farley and Lim, Sang Kyoo", title = "The track record of Mesozoic birds: evidence and implications", year = "1992", journal = "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences", abstract = "Abstract The occurrence, systematics, palaeobiological and evolutionary significance of Mesozoic bird and birdlike tracks are reviewed in the light of recent new discoveries in East Asia, Africa and North America. The most abundant footprint evidence currently comes from Lower Cretaceous deposits of East Asia and North America, where there is now a substantial track record for shorebirds. However, there is also a significant record of pre-Cretaceous bird-like tracks. The Cretaceous Jindong Formation of South Korea has recently yielded over 30 localities and stratigraphic levels, tripling the previous record worldwide and providing evidence of hitherto unknown large waders: Jindongornipes kimi ichnogen. et ichnosp. nov. Like other previously named ichnotaxa, this bird track type probably represents a charadriiform species. It is included with Ignotornis and Koreanaornis in the new ichnofamily Ignotornidae. Lower Cretaceous bird tracks are abundant, typically show high densities (100-300 tracks m2) and often occur in association with invertebrate traces, inferred to have been made by the organisms on which the birds were feeding. Such track evidence suggests that waterbird communities were well-established by the end of the Early Cretaceous. This is about 30 Ma before the purported waterbird radiation inferred from Upper Cretaceous avian skeletal remains, but is consistent with hypotheses that suggest an ancestral shorebird stock. Bird and bird-like tracks from the Jurassic and Late Cretaceous are variable in morphology, still poorly understood, and sometimes attributed to small coelurosaurian dinosaurs. However, current evidence suggests that the Jurassic aviform ichnogenus Trisauropodiscus may be of avian origin. It is sufficiently distinct from typical grallatorid (coelurosaurian) tracks to warrant recognition of a new ichnofamily (Trisauropodiscidae), which includes the newly described ichnospecies Trisauropodiscus moabensis from North America. Bird and bird-like tracks from both the Jurassic and Cretaceous are shown to be much more abundant and distinctive than previously supposed. Moreover, they add significantly to our understanding of early avian evolution and palaeoecology, and provide insights into the timing of events in avian evolution.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1992.0051", doi = "10.1098/rstb.1992.0051", openalex = "W2105064845", references = "doi101016b978012249408650011x, doi101038331433a0, doi10108002724634198110011900, doi101098rstb19910056, doi1023073514964, doi1035767gscpgbull353333, doi105281zenodo16171435, lull1915triassic, openalexw2206796883, openalexw3146596760" } @article{doi101126science2555046845, author = "Sereno, Paul C. and Chenggang, Rao", title = "Early Evolution of Avian Flight and Perching: New Evidence from the Lower Cretaceous of China", year = "1992", journal = "Science", abstract = "Fossil bird skeletons discovered in Lower Cretaceous lake deposits in China shed new light on the early evolution of avian flight and perching. The 135 million-year-old sparrow-sized skeletons represent a new avian, Sinornis santensis, n. gen. n. sp., that preserves striking primitive features such as a flexible manus with unguals, a footed pubis, and stomach ribs (gastralia). In contrast to Archaeoperyx, however, Sinornis exhibits advanced features such as a broad sternum, wing-folding mechanism, pygostyle, and large fully reversed hallux. Modern avian flight function and perching capability, therefore, must have evolved in small-bodied birds in inland habitats not long after Archaeopteryx.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.255.5046.845", doi = "10.1126/science.255.5046.845", openalex = "W2095317708", references = "doi1010160031018275900115, doi101038022457a0, doi101038331433a0, doi101098rstb19910056, doi101111j1469185x1979tb01013x, doi101111j146979981990tb04039x, doi101111j1474919x1973tb02636x, doi101126science20343841021, doi101126science24148721495, gregor1988the" } @article{doi101098rstb19930079, author = "Thomas, Adrian L. R.", title = "On the aerodynamics of birds’ tails", year = "1993", journal = "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences", abstract = "Abstract The aerodynamic properties of a bird’s tail, and the forces produced by it, can be predicted by using slender lifting surface theory. The results of the model show that unlike conventional wings, which generate lift proportional to their area, the lift generated by the tail is proportional to the square of its maximum continuous span. Lift is unaffected by substantial variations in tail shape provided that the tail initially expands in width along the direction of flow. Behind the point of maximum width of the tail the flow is dominated by the wake of the forward section. Any area behind this point therefore causes only drag, not lift. The centre of lift is at the centre of area of the part of the tail in front of the point of maximum width. The moment arm of the tail, about its apex, is therefore more than twice the moment arm of a conventional wing about its leading edge. The drag of the tail is a combination of induced drag proportional to lift, and profile drag proportional to surface area. Induced drag can be halved by drooping the outer tail feathers to generate leading edge suction. This may be used for control, particularly in slow flight when both wings and tail are generating maximum lift. The slender lifting surface model is very accurate at angles of attack below about 15°. At higher angles of attack vortex formation at the leading edge can stabilize the flow over the tail and thereby generate increased lift by a detached vortex mechanism. Asymmetry in the orientation of the leading edges with relation to the freestream (either in roll, yaw or caused by asymmetry in the planform) is amplified in the flow field and leads to large rolling and yawing forces that could be used for control in turning manoeuvres. The slender lifting surface model can be used to examine the effect of variations in tail shape and tail spread on the aerodynamic performance of the tail. A forked tail that has a triangular planform when spread to just over 120° gives the best aerodynamic performance and this may be close to a universal optimum, in terms of aerodynamic efficiency, for a means to control pitch and yaw. However, natural selection may act to optimise the performance of the tail when it is not widely spread. The tail is normally only widely spread during manoeuvres, or at low speeds, selection may act to improve the efficiency of the tail when it is spread to only a relatively narrow angle - for example to maximize the bird’s overall lift to drag ratio - the optimum shape at any angle of spread is that which gives a straight trailing edge to the tail. This will always give a slightly forked planform, but fork depth will depend on how widely the tail is spread when selection acts, and this depends on the criteria for optimization under natural selection. A forked tail is more sensitive to changes in angle of attack and angle of spread, than other tail types. Forked tails are more susceptible to damage than other tail morphologies, and suffer a greater loss of performance following damage. Forked tails also confer less inherent stability than any other type of tail. Aerodynamic performance may not be an im portant optimization criterion for birds that fly in a cluttered environment, or do not fly very much. Natural selection, under these conditions, may favour tails of other shapes. The aerodynamic costs of sexually selected elongated tails can be predicted from the model. These predictions can be used to distinguish between the various models for the evolution of elongated tails. Elongated graduated tails and pintails could have evolved either through a Fisherian or H andicap mechanism. The evolution of long forked tails can be initially favoured by natural selection, the pattern of feather elongation seen in sexually selected forked tails is predicted by the Fisher hypothesis (Fisher 1930) but not by any of the other theories of sexual selection.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1993.0079", doi = "10.1098/rstb.1993.0079", openalex = "W1995375509" } @article{doi101038382442a0, author = "Sanz, J. L. and Chiappe, Luis M. and Pérez-Moreno, Bernardino P. and Buscalioni, Ángela D. and García, José Joaquín Moratalla and Ortega, Francisco and Poyato-Ariza, Francisco José", title = "An Early Cretaceous bird from Spain and its implications for the evolution of avian flight", year = "1996", journal = "Nature", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/382442a0", doi = "10.1038/382442a0", openalex = "W2070207665", references = "doi101038331433a0" } @article{doi105860choice343307, title = "The origin and evolution of birds", year = "1997", journal = "Choice Reviews Online", abstract = "This text is a comprehensive and illustrated discussion of the origin of and of avian flight. Ornithologist and evolutionary biologist Alan Feduccia, author of Age of Birds, here draws on fossil evidence and studies of the structure and biochemistry of living to present knowledge and data on avian evolution and propose a model of this evolutionary process. Feduccia begins with an overview of bird evolution, giving his opinions about the controversial problem in verte-brate paleontology: whether evolved directly from bipedal, terrestrial dinosaurs (the ground-up theory) or from the precursors of dinosaurs - perhaps small arboreal thecodonts (the trees-down theory). He then provides information about the origin of avian flight and feathers and discusses the most dramatic discoveries in avian paleontolgy of the past few decades - the opposite birds that were the dominant landbirds of the Mesozoic. Feduccia next offers a theory of avian evolution during the Tertiary, arguing that the evolution of follows a pattern similar to that of mammals, with an explosive (rather than gradual) evolution lasting only 5 to 10 million years. In the second half of the book he summarizes the evolution of all the modern orders of birds, discussing such subjects as the evolution of filter-feeding in ducks and flamingos, the evolution of flightlessness, the evolution of of prey and the rise of landbirds. The book also includes reconstructions of ancient fossil that have been prepared by bird artist John O'Neill.", url = "https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.34-3307", doi = "10.5860/choice.34-3307", openalex = "W1555551215" } @article{doi101017s0006323197005100, author = "PADIAN, KEVIN and Chiappe, Luis M.", title = "The origin and early evolution of birds", year = "1998", journal = "Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society", abstract = "Birds evolved from and are phylogenetically recognized as members of the theropod dinosaurs; their first known member is the Late Jurassic Archaeopteryx, now represented by seven skeletons and a feather, and their closest known non-avian relatives are the dromaeosaurid theropods such as Deinonychus.Bird flight is widely thought to have evolved from the trees down, but Archaeopteryx and its outgroups show no obvious arboreal or tree-climbing characters, and its wing planform and wing loading do not resemble those of gliders.The ancestors of birds were bipedal, terrestrial, agile, cursorial and carnivorous or omnivorous.Apart from a perching foot and some skeletal fusions, a great many characters that are usually considered ' avian ' (e.g. the furcula, the elongated forearm, the laterally flexing wrist and apparently feathers) evolved in non-avian theropods for reasons unrelated to birds or to flight.Soon after Archaeopteryx, avian features such as the pygostyle, fusion of the carpometacarpus, and elongated curved pedal claws with a reversed, fully descended and opposable hallux, indicate improved flying ability and arboreal habits.In the further evolution of birds, characters related to the flight apparatus phylogenetically preceded those related to the rest of the skeleton and skull.Mesozoic birds are more diverse and numerous than thought previously and the most diverse known group of Cretaceous birds, the Enantiornithes, was not even recognized until 1981.The vast majority of Mesozoic bird groups have no Tertiary records: Enantiornithes, Hesperornithiformes, Ichthyornithiformes and several other lineages disappeared by the end of the Cretaceous.By that time, a few Linnean ' Orders ' of extant birds had appeared, but none of these taxa belongs to extant ' families ', and it is not until the Paleocene or (in most cases) the Eocene that the majority of extant bird ' Orders ' are known in the fossil record.There is no evidence for a major or mass extinction of birds at the end of the Cretaceous, nor for a sudden ' bottleneck ' in diversity that fostered the early Tertiary origination of living bird ' Orders '.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/s0006323197005100", doi = "10.1017/s0006323197005100", openalex = "W4237590069", references = "crossref1976allosaurus, doi1010160169534791900818, doi101016s0016699588800664, doi101016s0047248477800158, doi101038292051a0, doi101038331433a0, doi101038362623a0, doi101038381226a0, doi101086407902, doi101098rstb19910056, doi101098rstb19920051, doi101111j109583121976tb00244x, doi101126science2555046845, doi101126science27553031109, doi1023071441916, doi1023072992353, doi102307jctvqc6gzx, doi105860choice343307, doi105860choice353642, openalexw2991310333" } @article{doi10108002724634199810011115, author = "Wilson, Jeffrey A. and Sereno, Paul C.", title = "Early Evolution and Higher-Level Phylogeny of Sauropod Dinosaurs", year = "1998", journal = "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology", abstract = "ABSTRACT Although sauropods played a major role in terrestrial ecosystems during much of the Mesozoic Era, little effort has been directed toward diagnosing Sauropoda and establishing higher-level interrelationships among sauropods. As a consequence, the origin and evolution of major skeletal adaptations in sauropods has remained largely speculative. The cladistic analysis presented here focuses on higher-level relationships among sauropods. Based on 109 characters (32 cranial, 24 axial, 53 appendicular) for 10 sauropod taxa, the most parsimonious arrangement places four genera (Vulcanodon, Shunosaurus, Barapasaurus, and Omeisaurus) as a sequence of sister-taxa to a group of advanced sauropods, defined here as Neosauropoda. Neosauropoda, in turn, is composed of the sister-clades Diplodocoidea and Macronaria; the latter is a new taxon that includes Haplocanthosaurus, Camarasaurus, and Titanosauriformes. Titanosauriformes includes Brachiosauridae and Somphospondyli, a new taxon uniting Euhelopus and Titanosauria. Among macronarians, the position of Haplocanthosaurus is the least stable as a result of the absence of cranial remains. The basic structure of the phylogeny is resilient to various tests and establishes the evolutionary sequence of many functionally significant sauropod adaptations, such as the digitigrade posture of the manus in neosauropods. Other characteristic sauropod adaptations, such as narrow tooth crowns, increases in length and number of cervical vertebrae, and bifid neural spines, are shown to have evolved more than once. As these results underscore, the higher-level phylogeny of sauropods must be based on a broad sampling of character data. The fossil record of sauropods, although relatively limited during the early phase of the radiation (Late Triassic through Early Jurassic), nonetheless indicates that all major clades were established prior to the Late Jurassic, when substantial faunal interchange among major continental regions was still possible. The functional, temporal, and biogeographic implications of the higher-level phylogeny of sauropods are explored.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1998.10011115", doi = "10.1080/02724634.1998.10011115", openalex = "W1981694118", references = "crossref1976allosaurus, doi1010079789400904095, doi101038063003a0, doi101038114085a0, doi10108002724634199110011386, doi10108002724634199410011523, doi10108002724634199410011524, doi10108002724634199710011027, doi101093oxfordjournalsafrafa100309, doi101098rstb19950125, doi101111j109583121965tb00944x, doi101111j109636421985tb00871x, doi101111j150239311985tb00690x, doi101126science2562999, doi101126science2665183267, doi101127njgpa210199841, doi1023071292217, doi1023073514751, doi1023073514816, doi102307jctv143mdjg, doi102475ajss31695411, doi102475ajss319111253, doi102475ajss321125417, doi102475ajss32313381, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105860choice331556, openalexw1025856234, openalexw2173200745, openalexw2472827083, openalexw616953834, openalexw653009579" } @article{doi101111j1469185x1997tb00024x, author = "Padian, Kevin and Chiappe, Luis M.", title = "The origin and early evolution of birds", year = "1998", journal = "Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society", abstract = "ABSTRACT Birds evolved from and are phylogenetically recognized as members of the theropod dinosaurs; their first known member is the Late Jurassic Archaeopteryx, now represented by seven skeletons and a feather, and their closest known non‐avian relatives are the dromaeosaurid theropods such as Deinonychus. Bird flight is widely thought to have evolved from the trees down, but Archaeopteryx and its outgroups show no obvious arboreal or tree‐climbing characters, and its wing planform and wing loading do not resemble those of gliders. The ancestors of birds were bipedal, terrestrial, agile, cursorial and carnivorous or omnivorous. Apart from a perching foot and some skeletal fusions, a great many characters that are usually considered ‘avian’ (e.g. the furcula, the elongated forearm, the laterally flexing wrist and apparently feathers) evolved in non‐avian theropods for reasons unrelated to birds or to flight. Soon after Archaeopteryx, avian features such as the pygostyle, fusion of the carpometacarpus, and elongated curved pedal claws with a reversed, fully descended and opposable hallux, indicate improved flying ability and arboreal habits. In the further evolution of birds, characters related to the flight apparatus phylogenetically preceded those related to the rest of the skeleton and skull. Mesozoic birds are more diverse and numerous than thought previously and the most diverse known group of Cretaceous birds, the Enantiornithes, was not even recognized until 1981. The vast majority of Mesozoic bird groups have no Tertiary records: Enantiornithes, Hesperornithiformes, Ichthyornithiformes and several other lineages disappeared by the end of the Cretaceous. By that time, a few Linnean ‘Orders’ of extant birds had appeared, but none of these taxa belongs to extant ‘families’, and it is not until the Paleocene or (in most cases) the Eocene that the majority of extant bird ‘Orders’ are known in the fossil record. There is no evidence for a major or mass extinction of birds at the end of the Cretaceous, nor for a sudden ‘bottleneck’ in diversity that fostered the early Tertiary origination of living bird ‘Orders’.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185x.1997.tb00024.x", doi = "10.1111/j.1469-185x.1997.tb00024.x", openalex = "W2127438693", references = "doi101016b978012249408650011x, doi101016s0016699588800664, doi101016s0047248477800158, doi101038292051a0, doi101038331433a0, doi101038362623a0, doi101038378774a0, doi101038387390a0, doi101038nature01420, doi101038nature02706, doi101086407902, doi101098rstb19910056, doi101098rstb19920051, doi101111j109583121976tb00244x, doi101111j155856461996tb04496x, doi101126science1078237, doi101126science2555046845, doi101126science2665186779, doi101146annurevea03050175000415, doi1023071441916, doi1023073514548, doi102307jctt1xp3v3r, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105860choice300927, doi105860choice343307, doi105860choice353642, houck1990allometric, openalexw1879660213, openalexw2991310333, openalexw3146596760, ostrom2019osteology" } @article{doi1010800301422320019518262, author = "Holdaway, Richard N. and Worthy, Trevor H. and Tennyson, Alan J. D.", title = "A working list of breeding bird species of the New Zealand region at first human contact", year = "2001", journal = "New Zealand Journal of Zoology", abstract = "Abstract We present an annotated working list of the bird species breeding in New Zealand during the late Pleistocene and Holocene, up to the time of human contact. New Zealand is defined as including the three main islands and the surrounding smaller islands, plus outlying island groups from Norfolk Island in the northwest, the Kermadec, Chatham, Bounty, Antipodes, Campbell, Auckland, Snares, to Macquarie Islands, but excluding islands south of Macquarie Island and the Ross Dependency. Inclusions or exclusions of species from the list were based on specified criteria. We include only species with a breeding population and not vagrants that occur in New Zealand but which breed elsewhere. Species with validly published names were included if there was fossil evidence for a breeding population before human contact. Species with a breeding population at the time of European contact were included unless contrary evidence from the fossil record indicates that they actually colonised after human settlement. Species without a fossil record were included if a breeding population exists on a relatively undisturbed island within the New Zealand archipelago as defined above. Species now present on the main islands were excluded if they are absent from all well‐documented fossil faunas. Species were excluded from the breeding fauna and treated as vagrants where sustained breeding has not been demonstrated. The phylogenetic species concept is applied both to fossil and to living taxa. The late Quaternary fossil record of birds in New Zealand is excellent, and the contribution of extinct taxa to the total list is understood at least as well as that of the surviving taxa. Many taxa presently recognised at subspecific level are treated here as full species. Twelve extinct species whose former presence is known from fossil evidence, but for which no description has been published, are listed under informal species designations. Taxonomic considerations limited the extent to which the main list could reflect present understanding of the diversity of the avifauna; some undescribed species are at present subsumed under one species name. Where previous taxonomic publications provide precedence, available names at the species‐level have been used. A supplementary hypothetical species list includes all nomenclatural changes signalled in extensive annotations to the main list. In this list we accept 245 species in 110 genera representing 46 families; 176 species were endemic to the archipelago. Preliminary biogeographic analyses based on the composition of the supplementary list show that there were four separate regional faunas: a northern subtropical fauna (Norfolk, Kermadecs); the major fauna of the main islands (North, South, Stewart, and offshore islands); a Chathams fauna (Chatham Islands only); and a subantarctic fauna on the southern islands. Species with wider distributions formed link groups. The origin and compositions of the regional avifaunas and their endemic species differ with their geographic position, climate, and proximity to source faunas. Instances of speciation in groups such as the Coenocoiypha snipe and Petroica flycatchers, and adaptive radiations in groups including moa and acanthisittid wrens, show that there are many avenues for research on the rate of evolution in island and mainland populations of New Zealand birds and that there are large gaps in knowledge of even common taxa. A brief case study demonstrates the inadequacies of using species lists that do not include Holocene fossil species. Species‐area curves based on the total fauna differ substantially from those developed in previous studies based on incomplete, or biased, lists. Pleistocene glaciations caused the pattern of distribution of species on the main islands to change in concert with vegetation changes. Other possible effects include the elimination of warm climate species early in the cooling phase more than 1 million years ago, the speciation in groups including waders and parrots as new habitats (e.g., braided riverbeds and alpine areas) appeared, and the appearance regularly during the Pleistocene of islands that were potential staging points for colonisation of the Chatham Islands. For at least the past 100 000 years, until 2000 years ago, the fauna appears to have been very stable in composition, despite strong cyclic fluctuations in climate and vegetation. The effects of extinctions within the past 2000 years on the composition of the present fauna include the elimination of most of the endemic taxa from all but the subantarctic faunas. Only 169 species of the original late Holocene breeding fauna survive. The extinctions have resulted in a strong bias towards marine and coastal taxa in the present avifauna, in contrast to the balanced representation of terrestrial and marine species in the Pleistocene and Holocene fauna. The importance of systematic studies and the determination of the status of island populations to conservation and basic ornithological research is emphasised. The systematic status of many New Zealand birds is poorly known at present.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/03014223.2001.9518262", doi = "10.1080/03014223.2001.9518262", openalex = "W2003138611", references = "doi101016b978012249408650011x, doi101111j109636421932tb01553x, doi101111j1474919x1955tb01923x" } @article{doi101098rspb20001368, author = "Cracraft, Joël", title = "Avian evolution, Gondwana biogeography and the Cretaceous–Tertiary mass extinction event", year = "2001", journal = "Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences", abstract = "The fossil record has been used to support the origin and radiation of modern birds (Neornithes) in Laurasia after the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction event, whereas molecular clocks have suggested a Cretaceous origin for most avian orders. These alternative views of neornithine evolution are examined using an independent set of evidence, namely phylogenetic relationships and historical biogeography. Pylogenetic relationships of basal lineages of neornithines, including ratite birds and their allies (Palaleocognathae), galliforms and anseriforms (Galloanserae), as well as lineages of the more advanced Neoves (Gruiformes, (Capimulgiformes, Passeriformes and others) demonstrate pervasive trans-Antarctic distribution patterns. The temporal history of the neornithines can be inferred from fossil taxa and the ages of vicariance events, and along with their biogeographical patterns, leads to the conclusion that neornithines arose in Gondwana prior to the Cretaceous Tertiary extinction event.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1368", doi = "10.1098/rspb.2000.1368", openalex = "W2110007690", references = "doi1010160040195188902697, doi101016b978012249408650011x, doi101016s0012821x98002829, doi10102996rg03038, doi101038377301a0, doi101038381226a0, doi101111j1469185x1997tb00024x, doi101126science2585084975, doi10113008137233291, doi102307jctt1xp3v3r, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105860choice343307, openalexw2135985426, openalexw2607033038" } @article{doi101111j109636422001tb01314x, author = "Hutchinson, John R.", title = "The evolution of femoral osteology and soft tissues on the line to extant birds (Neornithes)", year = "2001", journal = "Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society", abstract = "Femoral osteology and soft tissues evolved in a stepwise pattern in archosauromorph reptiles on the line to crown group birds. Crocodylia retains most ancestral archosaurian traits, whereas Dinosauromorpha (including birds) acquired many more derived traits. The complex sequence of changes included major shifts of several thigh muscle insertions. Medial rotation of the proximal femur (e.g. the femoral head) in archosaurs moved the greater trochanter laterally, bringing along the insertion of M. pubo‐ischio‐femoralis externus. Within Dinosauromorpha, the lesser trochanter moved proximally away from the trochanteric shelf. Presumably the lesser trochanter indicates the insertion of M. iliotrochantericus caudalis whereas the trochanteric shelf indicates the insertion of M. iliofemoralis externus. An accessory trochanter at the base of the lesser trochanter marks the insertion of M. pubo‐ischio‐femoralis internus 2 in tetanuran theropods. I propose hypotheses for the homologies of several intermuscular lines and other features on the femoral shaft. On the line to Neornithes, most changes of femoral morphology predated Aves and the origin of flight; few femoral features are unique to birds. Overall, the pattern of morphological evolution is consistent with stepwise functional evolution of the hindlimb within Dinosauromorpha on the line to Neornithes. The clade Ornithurae evolved the last few hindlimb apomorphies that characterize extant birds, in conjunction with more flexed hip and knee joints.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2001.tb01314.x", doi = "10.1111/j.1096-3642.2001.tb01314.x", openalex = "W2020878527", references = "coria1995a, doi101007bf02985709, doi101016b9781483231426500124, doi101017cbo9780511608377010, doi101017s0022336000026706, doi101017s0094837300009866, doi101038248168a0, doi101038292051a0, doi101038387390a0, doi10103845769, doi10108002724634199110011386, doi10108002724634199110011426, doi10108002724634199310011511, doi10108002724634199410011523, doi10108002724634199410011538, doi10108002724634199710011027, doi101086283367, doi101093sysbio33183, doi101098rstb19610007, doi101098rstb19650003, doi101098rstb19830079, doi101098rstb19850092, doi101098rstb19920117, doi101098rstb19990489, doi101111j109583121976tb00244x, doi101111j109600311988tb00514x, doi101111j109600311991tb00045x, doi101111j109600311995tb00092x, doi101111j109636422001tb01313x, doi101111j146979981991tb04794x, doi101111j155856461996tb04496x, doi101126science2555046845, doi101126science27853411267, doi101126science27953581915, doi101139e72031, doi101139e93179, doi1015468p4gnhz, doi1016660094837320000260734aaateo20co2, doi1023071292217, doi10230730135049, doi104095101672, doi105281zenodo1038220, doi105281zenodo16120887, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105281zenodo16492064, doi105479si03629236110i, doi105860choice300927, doi105860choice326223, doi105860choice392183, doi105962p226819, gregor1988the, madsen1976a, openalexw2788234611, openalexw617951419, openalexw638862129, openalexw646636017, rowe1989a, walker1964triassic" } @article{doi101098rspb20011877, author = "Ericson, Per G. P. and Christidis, Les and Cooper, Alan and Irestedt, Martin and Jackson, Jennifer A. and Johansson, Ulf S. and Norman, Janette A.", title = "A Gondwanan origin of passerine birds supported by DNA sequences of the endemic New Zealand wrens", year = "2002", journal = "Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences", abstract = "Zoogeographic, palaeontological and biochemical data support a Southern Hemisphere origin for passerine birds, while accumulating molecular data suggest that most extant avian orders originated in the mid-Late Cretaceous. We obtained DNA sequence data from the nuclear c-myc and RAG-1 genes of the major passerine groups and here we demonstrate that the endemic New Zealand wrens (Acanthisittidae) are the sister taxon to all other extant passerines, supporting a Gondwanan origin and early radiation of passerines. We propose that (i) the acanthisittids were isolated when New Zealand separated from Gondwana (ca. 82-85 Myr ago), (ii) suboscines, in turn, were derived from an ancestral lineage that inhabited western Gondwana, and (iii) the ancestors of the oscines (songbirds) were subsequently isolated by the separation of Australia from Antarctica. The later spread of passerines into the Northern Hemisphere reflects the northward migration of these former Gondwanan elements.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2001.1877", doi = "10.1098/rspb.2001.1877", openalex = "W1989551086", references = "doi101098rspb20001368, doi105860choice343307" } @article{doi1012060003008220023870001tmappo20co2, author = "Clarke, Julia A. and Norell, Mark A.", title = "The Morphology and Phylogenetic Position of Apsaravis ukhaana from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia", year = "2002", journal = "American Museum Novitates", abstract = "The avialan taxon Apsaravis ukhaana from the Late Cretaceous of southern Mongolia is completely described and its phylogenetic position is evaluated. Apsaravis ukhaana is from continental sandstones exposed at the locality of Ukhaa Tolgod, Omnogov Aimag, Mongolia. The holotype specimen consists of the nearly complete, articulated skeleton of a small volant avialan.Apsaravis ukhaana is unambiguously differentiated from other avialans based on the presence of several unique morphologies: a strong tubercle on the proximal humerus, a hypertrophied trochanteric crest on the femur, and extremely well-projected posterior wings of a surface of the distal tibiotarsus that in Aves articulates with the tibial cartilage. Ten other homoplastic characters optimize as autapomorphies of Apsaravis ukhaana in the phylogenetic analysis. They are as follows: ossified mandibular symphysis; dentary strongly forked posteriorly; hooked acromion process on scapula; highly angled dorsal condyle of humerus; humeral condyles weakly defined; distal edge of humerus angling strongly ventrally; humerus flared dorsoventrally at its distal terminus; lateral condyle of tibiotarsus wider than medial one; neither condyle of tibiotarsus tapering toward the midline; and metatarsal II trochlea rounded rather than ginglymoid.Phylogenetic placement of Apsaravis ukhaana as the sister taxon of Hesperornithes Aves resulted from analysis of 202 characters scored for 17 avialan ingroup taxa. The implications of Apsaravis ukhaana, and the results of the phylogenetic analysis, for the evolution of flight after its origin and character support for enantiornithine monophyly are extensively discussed.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2002)387<0001:tmappo>2.0.co;2", doi = "10.1206/0003-0082(2002)387<0001:tmappo>2.0.co;2", openalex = "W2178079533", references = "doi101016b978012249408650011x, doi101127njgpa210199841, doi1015159783110848281, doi102307jctt1xp3v3r, doi102475ajss319111253, doi102475ajss321125417, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105860choice343307, doi105962bhltitle156765, openalexw2607033038" } @article{doi1023074090253, author = "Olson, Storrs L.", title = "New Perspectives on the Origin and Early Evolution of Birds. Proceedings of the International Symposium in Honor of John H. Ostrom Jacques Gauthier Lawrence F. Gall", year = "2002", journal = "The Auk", url = "https://doi.org/10.2307/4090253", doi = "10.2307/4090253", openalex = "W2315287591" } @article{doi101126science1090718, author = "Luo, Zhe‐Xi and Ji, Qiang and Wible, John R. and Yuan, Chong-Xi", title = "An Early Cretaceous Tribosphenic Mammal and Metatherian Evolution", year = "2003", journal = "Science", abstract = "Derived features of a new boreosphenidan mammal from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China suggest that it has a closer relationship to metatherians (including extant marsupials) than to eutherians (including extant placentals). This fossil dates to 125 million years ago and extends the record of marsupial relatives with skeletal remains by 50 million years. It also has many foot structures known only from climbing and tree-living extant mammals, suggesting that early crown therians exploited diverse niches. New data from this fossil support the view that Asia was likely the center for the diversification of the earliest metatherians and eutherians during the Early Cretaceous.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1090718", doi = "10.1126/science.1090718", openalex = "W2089259767", references = "doi107312kiel11918" } @article{doi101139e03011, author = "Zhou, Zhonghe and Zhang, Fucheng", title = "Anatomy of the primitive bird Sapeornis chaoyangensis from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning, China", year = "2003", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = {Two new, nearly completely articulated skeletons of Sapeornis chaoyangensis provide much new information about the anatomy of this basal avian, particularly in the skull, pectoral girdle, forelimb, and hind limb. This new material shows that the hand of Sapeornis, with a phalangeal formula of "2–3–2," was more derived than previously reconstructed. The skeleton of Sapeornis has several unique features, such as a distinctively elongated fenestra on the proximal end of the humerus, a robust furcula with a distinctive hypocleidum, and an elongated forelimb. Sapeornis exhibits a combination of derived and primitive features, including a short, robust non-strut-like coracoid and a fibula reaching the distal end of the tarsal joint (as in Archaeopteryx), a pygostyle, reduced manual digits, and a well-fused carpometacarpus (as in more advanced birds). These features further indicate the mosaic pattern in the early evolution of birds and confirm the basal position of Sapeornis near Archaeopteryx and Jeholornic in the phylogeny of early birds. The preservation of gastroliths in one of the new specimens also represents the first Chinese Mesozoic bird with such evidence, indicating a herbivorous feeding habit and providing further evidence for our understanding of the diet diversification in early avian evolution.}, url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/e03-011", doi = "10.1139/e03-011", openalex = "W1973835690", references = "doi10103835047056, doi101038382442a0, doi10103845769, doi101038nature00930, doi101126science2555046845, doi101126science27953581915, doi101126science29054981955, openalexw1489366593, openalexw1589617690, openalexw2607033038" } @article{doi1016660022336020030770822mbatho20co2, author = "Clarke, Julia", title = "Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs", year = "2003", journal = "Journal of Paleontology", abstract = "The debate on avian ancestry: phylogeny, function, and fossils / Lawrence M. Witmer -- Cladistic approaches to the relationships of birds to other theropod dinosaurs / James M. Clark, Mark A. Norell and Peter J. Makovicky -- The enigmatic birdlike dinosaur Avimimus portentosus: comments and a pictorial atlas / Patricia Vickers-Rich, Luis M. Chiappe and Sergei Kurzanov -- The Cretaceous short-armed Alvarezsauridae: Mononykus and its kin / Luis M. Chiappe, Mark A. Norell and James M. Clark -- Alvarezsaurid relationships reconsidered / Fernando E. Novas and Diego Pol -- Archaeopterygidae (Upper Jurassic of Germany) / Andrzej Elzanowski -- The discovery and study of Mesozoic birds in China / Zhou Zhonghe and Hou Lianhai -- Sinornis santensis (Aves: Enantiornithes) from the early Cretaceous of northeastern China / Paul C. Sereno, Rao Chenggang and Li Jianjun -- The birds from the Lower Cretaceous of Las Hoyas (Province of Cuenca, Spain) / Jose L. Sanz... [et al.] -- Nogueromis gonzalezi (Aves: Ornithothoraces) from the early Cretaceous of Spain / Luis M. Chiappe and Antonio Lacasa-Ruiz -- Skeletal morphology and systematics of the Cretaceous Euenantiornithes (Ornithothoraces: Enantiornithes) / Luis M. Chiappe and Cyril A. Walker -- Vorona berivotrensis, a primitive bird from the late Cretaceous of Madagascar / Catherine A. Forster... [et al.] -- Osteology of the flightless Patagopteryx deferrariisi from the late Cretaceous of Patagonia (Argentina) / Luis M. Chiappe -- Enaliornis, an early Cretaceous hesperornithiform bird from England, with comments on other Hesperornithiformes / Peter M. Galton and Larry D. Martin -- The Mesozoic radiation of Neornithes / Sylvia Hope -- A review of avian Mesozoic fossil feathers / Alexander W.A. Kellner -- The track record of Mesozoic birds and pterosaurs: an ichnological and paleoecological perspective / Martin G. Lockley and Emma C. Rainforth -- Bone microstructure of early birds / Anusuya Chinsamy -- Locomotor evolution on the line to modern birds / Stephen M. Gatesy -- Basal bird phylogeny: problems and solutions / Luis M. Chiappe.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1666/0022-3360(2003)077<0822:mbatho>2.0.co;2", doi = "10.1666/0022-3360(2003)077<0822:mbatho>2.0.co;2", openalex = "W4301871956", references = "doi101038292051a0" } @article{doi105860choice405235, title = "Mesozoic birds: above the heads of dinosaurs", year = "2003", journal = "Choice Reviews Online", abstract = "Preface Part I: The Archosaurian Heritage of Birds 1. The Debate on Avian Ancestry: Phylogeny, Function, and Fossils LAWRENCE M. WITMER 2. Cladistic Approaches to the Relationships of Birds to Other Theropod Dinosaurs JAMES M. CLARK, MARK A. NORELL, AND PETER J. MAKOVICKY Part II: Taxa of Controversial Status 3. The Enigmatic Birdlike Dinosaur Avimimus portentosus: Comments and a Pictorial Atlas PATRICIA VICKERS-RICH, LUIS M. CHIAPPE, AND SERGEI KURZANOV 4. The Cretaceous, Short-Armed Alvarezsauridae: Mononykus and Its Kin LUIS M. CHIAPPE, MARK A. NORELL, AND JAMES M. CLARK 5. Alvarezsaurid Relationships Reconsidered FERNANDO E. NOVAS AND DIEGO POL Part III: The Mesozoic Aviary: Anatomy and Systematics 6. Archaeopterygidae (Upper Jurassic of Germany) ANDRZEJ ELZANOWSKI 7. The Discovery and Study of Mesozoic Birds in China ZHOU ZHONGHE AND HOU LIANHAI 8. Sinornis santensis (Aves: Enantiornithes) from the Early Cretaceous of Northeastern China PAUL C. SERENO, RAO CHENGGANG, AND LI JIANJUN 9. The Birds from the Lower Cretaceous of Las Hoyas (Province of Cuenca, Spain) JOSE L. SANZ, BERNARDINO P. PEREZ-MORENO, LUIS M. CHIAPPE, AND ANGELA D. BUSCALIONI 10. Noguerornis gonzalezi (Aves) from the Early Cretaceous of Spain LUIS M. CHIAPPE AND ANTONIO LACASA-RUIZ 11. Skeletal Morphology and Systematics of the Cretaceous Euenantiornithes (Ornithothoraces: Enantiornithes) LUIS M. CHIAPPE AND CYRIL A. WALKER 12. Vorona berivotrensis, a Primitive Bird from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar CATHERINE A. FORSTER, LUIS M. CHIAPPE, DAVID W. KRAUSE, AND SCOTT D. SAMPSON 13. Osteology of the Flightless Patagopteryx deferrariisi from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia (Argentina) LUIS M. CHIAPPE 14. Enaliornis, an Early Cretaceous Hesperornithiform Bird from England, with Comments on other Hesperornithiformes PETER M. GALTON AND LARRY D. MARTIN 15. The Mesozoic Radiation of Neornithes SYLVIA HOPE 16. A Review of Avian Mesozoic Fossil Feathers ALEXANDER W. A. KELLNER 17. The Track Record of Mesozoic Birds and Pterosaurs: An Ichnological and Paleoecological Perspective MARTIN G. LOCKLEY AND EMMA C. RAINFORTH Part IV: Functional Morphology and Evolution 18. Bone Microstructure of Early Birds ANUSUYA CHINSAMY 19. Locomotor Evolution on the Line to Modern Birds STEPHEN M. GATESY 20. Basal Bird Phylogeny: Problems and Solutions LUIS M. CHIAPPE Contributors Index", url = "https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.40-5235", doi = "10.5860/choice.40-5235", openalex = "W586262331", references = "doi101038nature01342, doi101093auk11941187" } @book{doi101017cbo9780511606816, author = "Koenig, Walter D. and Koenig, Walter D. and Ligon, J. David and Ekman, Jan and Dickinson, Janis L. and Heinsohn, Robert and Cockburn, Andrew and Komdeur, Jan and Plessis, Morné A. Du and Schoech, Stephan J. and Koenig, Walter D. and Magrath, Robert D. and Vehrencamp, Sandra L. and Walters, Jeffrey R. and Russell, Andrew F. and Pruett‐Jones, Stephen", title = "Ecology and Evolution of Cooperative Breeding in Birds", year = "2004", booktitle = "Cambridge University Press eBooks", abstract = "Cooperative breeders are species in which more than a pair of individuals assist in the production of young. Cooperative breeding is found in only a few hundred bird species world-wide, and understanding this often strikingly altruistic behaviour has remained an important challenge in behavioural ecology for over 30 years. This book highlights the theoretical, empirical and technical advances that have taken place in the field of cooperative breeding research since the publication of the seminal work Cooperative Breeding in Birds: Long-term Studies of Behavior and Ecology (1990, HB ISBN 0521 372984, PB ISBN 0521 378907). Organized conceptually, special attention is given to ways in which cooperative breeders have proved fertile subjects for testing modern advances to classic evolutionary problems including those of sexual selection, sex-ratio manipulation, life-history evolution, partitioning of reproduction and incest avoidance. It will be of interest to both students and researchers interested in behaviour and ecology.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511606816", doi = "10.1017/cbo9780511606816", openalex = "W1575039682", references = "doi1010160169534796100288, doi101111j1474919x1968tb00058x, doi101146annurevnutr191247, doi105860choice343307, openalexw563887495" } @article{doi101016jpalaeo200507006, author = "Friis, Else Marie and Pedersen, Kaj Raunsgaard and Crane, Peter R.", title = "Cretaceous angiosperm flowers: Innovation and evolution in plant reproduction", year = "2005", journal = "Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.07.006", doi = "10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.07.006", openalex = "W2001715812", references = "doi101007bf02860067, doi101007bf02860540, doi101007bf02861082, doi101016s0012821x0000159x, doi101038363342a0, doi10103846536, doi101038nature01420, doi1010719780643090149, doi1023071485834, doi1023072399030, doi1023072418725, doi1023072807789, doi105860choice323883, doi105860choice323884" } @article{doi101073pnas0507106102, author = "Zhou, Zhonghe and Zhang, Fucheng", title = "Discovery of an ornithurine bird and its implication for Early Cretaceous avian radiation", year = "2005", journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", abstract = "An ornithurine bird, Hongshanornis longicresta gen. et sp. nov., represented by a nearly complete and articulated skeleton in full plumage, has been recovered from the lacustrine deposits of the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group in Inner Mongolia, northeast China. The bird had completely reduced teeth and possessed a beak in both the upper and lower jaws, representing the earliest known beaked ornithurine. The preservation of a predentary bone confirms that this structure is not unique to ornithischian dinosaurs but was common in early ornithurine birds. This small bird had a strong flying capability with a low aspect ratio wing. It was probably a wader, feeding in shallow water or marshes. This find confirms that the aquatic environment had played a key role in the origin and early radiation of ornithurines, one branch of which eventually gave rise to extant birds near the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. This discovery provides important information not only for studying the origin and early evolution of ornithurines but also for understanding the differentiation in morphology, body size, and diet of the Early Cretaceous birds.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0507106102", doi = "10.1073/pnas.0507106102", openalex = "W2094628056", references = "doi1010292004gl019790, doi10103821872, doi101038nature00930, doi101038nature01420, doi101038nature03150, doi101126science29054981955, doi101139e03011, doi10560219780801881206, doi105860choice343307, doi105860choice405235" } @article{doi101126science1118806, author = "Prasad, Vandana and Strömberg, Caroline A. E. and Alimohammadian, Habib and Sahni, Ashok", title = "Dinosaur Coprolites and the Early Evolution of Grasses and Grazers", year = "2005", journal = "Science", abstract = "Silicified plant tissues (phytoliths) preserved in Late Cretaceous coprolites from India show that at least five taxa from extant grass (Poaceae) subclades were present on the Indian subcontinent during the latest Cretaceous. This taxonomic diversity suggests that crown-group Poaceae had diversified and spread in Gondwana before India became geographically isolated. Other phytoliths extracted from the coprolites (from dicotyledons, conifers, and palms) suggest that the suspected dung producers (titanosaur sauropods) fed indiscriminately on a wide range of plants. These data also make plausible the hypothesis that gondwanatherian mammals with hypsodont cheek teeth were grazers.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1118806", doi = "10.1126/science.1118806", openalex = "W2157319590", references = "doi101016jpalaeo200309028, doi101017s1464793101005735, doi101038333843a0, doi101071bt00023, doi101073pnas0505700102, doi101111j10958339200400345x, doi101130spe332, doi1023072398811, doi1023072666186, doi1023073298585, doi1023073889325" } @article{doi101093molbevmsj124, author = "Slack, Kerryn E. and Jones, Craig M. and Ando, Tatsuro and Harrison, G. L. Abby and Fordyce, R. Ewan and Árnason, Úlfur and Penny, David", title = "Early Penguin Fossils, Plus Mitochondrial Genomes, Calibrate Avian Evolution", year = "2006", journal = "Molecular Biology and Evolution", abstract = "Testing models of macroevolution, and especially the sufficiency of microevolutionary processes, requires good collaboration between molecular biologists and paleontologists. We report such a test for events around the Late Cretaceous by describing the earliest penguin fossils, analyzing complete mitochondrial genomes from an albatross, a petrel, and a loon, and describe the gradual decline of pterosaurs at the same time modern birds radiate. The penguin fossils comprise four naturally associated skeletons from the New Zealand Waipara Greensand, a Paleocene (early Tertiary) formation just above a well-known Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary site. The fossils, in a new genus (Waimanu), provide a lower estimate of 61-62 Ma for the divergence between penguins and other birds and thus establish a reliable calibration point for avian evolution. Combining fossil calibration points, DNA sequences, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analysis, the penguin calibrations imply a radiation of modern (crown group) birds in the Late Cretaceous. This includes a conservative estimate that modern sea and shorebird lineages diverged at least by the Late Cretaceous about 74 +/- 3 Ma (Campanian). It is clear that modern birds from at least the latest Cretaceous lived at the same time as archaic birds including Hesperornis, Ichthyornis, and the diverse Enantiornithiformes. Pterosaurs, which also coexisted with early crown birds, show notable changes through the Late Cretaceous. There was a decrease in taxonomic diversity, and small- to medium-sized species disappeared well before the end of the Cretaceous. A simple reading of the fossil record might suggest competitive interactions with birds, but much more needs to be understood about pterosaur life histories. Additional fossils and molecular data are still required to help understand the role of biotic interactions in the evolution of Late Cretaceous birds and thus to test that the mechanisms of microevolution are sufficient to explain macroevolution.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msj124", doi = "10.1093/molbev/msj124", openalex = "W2162762023", references = "doi101111j109600312003tb00387x, doi101126science1064706, doi101144gslsp20032170111, doi1012060003008220023870001tmappo20co2, doi1012060003009020042860001mptaso20co2, doi105860choice405235" } @article{doi101111j14636409200600234x, author = "Zhou, Zhonghe and Zhang, Fucheng", title = "A beaked basal ornithurine bird (Aves, Ornithurae) from the Lower Cretaceous of China", year = "2006", journal = "Zoologica Scripta", abstract = "We report here one of the earliest known beaked ornithurine birds from the Lower Cretaceous deposits in Liaoning, northeast China. The new basal ornithurine, Archaeorhynchus spathula gen. et sp. nov., has a rhynchokinetic skull with toothless jaws. It also contains over three dozen preserved gizzard stones, suggesting an herbivorous diet. The distal end of the tibiotarsus is unfused, enabling recognition of the astragalus with a broad ascending process, generally similar to that of Archaeopteryx. The new discovery sheds new light on our understanding of the early radiation and diet diversification of early birds in the Lower Cretaceous.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00234.x", doi = "10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00234.x", openalex = "W2060934644", references = "doi1010292004gl019790, doi10103821872, doi101038nature00930, doi101038nature01342, doi101073pnas0507106102, doi101126science27953581915, doi101126science29054981955, doi101139e03011, doi10136002tb9031, doi105860choice343307, openalexw2607033038" } @article{doi101111j14697580200600534x, author = "Clarke, Julia A. and Zhou, Zhonghe and Zhang, Fucheng", title = "Insight into the evolution of avian flight from a new clade of Early Cretaceous ornithurines from China and the morphology of Yixianornis grabaui", year = "2006", journal = "Journal of Anatomy", abstract = "In studies of the evolution of avian flight there has been a singular preoccupation with unravelling its origin. By contrast, the complex changes in morphology that occurred between the earliest form of avian flapping flight and the emergence of the flight capabilities of extant birds remain comparatively little explored. Any such work has been limited by a comparative paucity of fossils illuminating bird evolution near the origin of the clade of extant (i.e. 'modern') birds (Aves). Here we recognize three species from the Early Cretaceous of China as comprising a new lineage of basal ornithurine birds. Ornithurae is a clade that includes, approximately, comparatively close relatives of crown clade Aves (extant birds) and that crown clade. The morphology of the best-preserved specimen from this newly recognized Asian diversity, the holotype specimen of Yixianornis grabaui Zhou and Zhang 2001, complete with finely preserved wing and tail feather impressions, is used to illustrate the new insights offered by recognition of this lineage. Hypotheses of avian morphological evolution and specifically proposed patterns of change in different avian locomotor modules after the origin of flight are impacted by recognition of the new lineage. The complete articulated holotype specimen of Yixianornis grabaui, from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province, in north-eastern China, arguably the best-preserved basal ornithurine specimen yet discovered, provides the earliest evidence consistent with the presence of extant avian tail feather fanning.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7580.2006.00534.x", doi = "10.1111/j.1469-7580.2006.00534.x", openalex = "W2060028132", references = "doi10100797814615678751, doi1010292004gl019790, doi101038nature01420, doi101038nature03150, doi101111j109636422001tb01314x, doi101111j155856461988tb02497x, doi101139e03011, doi1012060003008220023870001tmappo20co2, doi1015159783110848281, doi1016660022336020030770822mbatho20co2, doi10230730135049, doi105281zenodo16171435, openalexw2607033038" } @article{doi101126science1126377, author = "You, Hai‐Lu and Lamanna, Matthew C. and Harris, Jerald D. and Chiappe, Luis M. and O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Shu'an, JI and Lü, Junchang and Yuan, Chong-Xi and Li, Daqing and Zhang, Xing and Lacovara, Kenneth J. and Dodson, Peter and Ji, Qiang", title = "A Nearly Modern Amphibious Bird from the Early Cretaceous of Northwestern China", year = "2006", journal = "Science", abstract = "Three-dimensional specimens of the volant fossil bird Gansus yumenensis from the Early Cretaceous Xiagou Formation of northwestern China demonstrate that this taxon possesses advanced anatomical features previously known only in Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic ornithuran birds. Phylogenetic analysis recovers Gansus within the Ornithurae, making it the oldest known member of the clade. The Xiagou Formation preserves the oldest known ornithuromorph-dominated avian assemblage. The anatomy of Gansus, like that of other non-neornithean (nonmodern) ornithuran birds, indicates specialization for an amphibious life-style, supporting the hypothesis that modern birds originated in aquatic or littoral niches.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1126377", doi = "10.1126/science.1126377", openalex = "W2133606327", references = "doi101007bf03184320, doi101007s001140050715, doi101016s016953470300017x, doi101017cbo9780511536045, doi101038nature03150, doi101130b254021, doi1012060003008220023860001anpbaa20co2, doi1012060003008220023870001tmappo20co2, doi105860choice405235, openalexw2989049194" } @article{doi101038nature06277, author = "Luo, Zhe‐Xi", title = "Transformation and diversification in early mammal evolution", year = "2007", journal = "Nature", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06277", doi = "10.1038/nature06277", openalex = "W2146098040", references = "doi101007978146122784737, doi10100797814684216682, doi101023a1011317930838, doi101038416816a, doi101038nature01420, doi101038nature03102, doi101038nature05627, doi101038nature05634, doi101046j10958312200300146x, doi101073pnas0334222100, doi101073pnas0606028103, doi10108002724634198810011708, doi101093molbevmsl150, doi101098rstb19760022, doi101111j109636421973tb00786x, doi101111j109636421981tb01127x, doi101126science1067179, doi101126science1085672, doi101126science28554362031a, doi105860choice355657, doi105962bhltitle118972, doi105962bhltitle3460, doi107312kiel11918, openalexw1539913220, openalexw78894702" } @article{doi101111j10963642200600293x, author = "Livezey, Bradley C. and Zusi, Richard L.", title = "Higher-order phylogeny of modern birds (Theropoda, Aves: Neornithes) based on comparative anatomy. II. Analysis and discussion", year = "2007", journal = "Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society", abstract = "In recent years, avian systematics has been characterized by a diminished reliance on morphological cladistics of modern taxa, intensive palaeornithogical research stimulated by new discoveries and an inundation by analyses based on DNA sequences. Unfortunately, in contrast to significant insights into basal origins, the broad picture of neornithine phylogeny remains largely unresolved. Morphological studies have emphasized characters of use in palaeontological contexts. Molecular studies, following disillusionment with the pioneering, but non-cladistic, work of Sibley and Ahlquist, have differed markedly from each other and from morphological works in both methods and findings. Consequently, at the turn of the millennium, points of robust agreement among schools concerning higher-order neornithine phylogeny have been limited to the two basalmost and several mid-level, primary groups. This paper describes a phylogenetic (cladistic) analysis of 150 taxa of Neornithes, including exemplars from all non-passeriform families, and subordinal representatives of Passeriformes. Thirty-five outgroup taxa encompassing Crocodylia, predominately theropod Dinosauria, and selected Mesozoic birds were used to root the trees. Based on study of specimens and the literature, 2954 morphological characters were defined; these characters have been described in a companion work, approximately one-third of which were multistate (i.e. comprised at least three states), and states within more than one-half of these multistate characters were ordered for analysis. Complete heuristic searches using 10 000 random-addition replicates recovered a total solution set of 97 well-resolved, most-parsimonious trees (MPTs). The set of MPTs was confirmed by an expanded heuristic search based on 10 000 random-addition replicates and a full ratchet-augmented exploration to ascertain global optima. A strict consensus tree of MPTs included only six trichotomies, i.e. nodes differing topologically among MPTs. Bootstrapping (based on 10 000 replicates) percentages and ratchet-minimized support (Bremer) indices indicated most nodes to be robust. Several fossil Neornithes (e.g. Dinornithiformes, Aepyornithiformes) were placed within the ingroup a posteriori either through unconstrained, heursitic searches based on the complete matrix augmented by these taxa separately or using backbone-constraints. Analysis confirmed the topology among outgroup Theropoda and achieved robust resolution at virtually all levels of the Neornithes. Findings included monophyly of the palaeognathous birds, comprising the sister taxa Tinamiformes and ratites, respectively, and the Anseriformes and Galliformes as monophyletic sister-groups, together forming the sister-group to other Neornithes exclusive of the Palaeognathae (Neoaves). Noteworthy inferences include: (i) the sister-group to remaining Neoaves comprises a diversity of marine and wading birds; (ii) Podicipedidae are the sister-group of Gaviidae, and not closely related to the Phoenicopteridae, as recently suggested; (iii) the traditional Pelecaniformes, including the shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) as sister-taxon to other members, are monophyletic; (iv) traditional Ciconiiformes are monophyletic; (v) Strigiformes and Falconiformes are sister-groups; (vi) Cathartidae is the sister-group of the remaining Falconiformes; (vii) Ralliformes (Rallidae and Heliornithidae) are the sister-group to the monophyletic Charadriiformes, with the traditionally composed Gruiformes and Turniciformes (Turnicidae and Mesitornithidae) sequentially paraphyletic to the entire foregoing clade; (viii) Opisthocomus hoazin is the sister-taxon to the Cuculiformes (including the Musophagidae); (ix) traditional Caprimulgiformes are monophyletic and the sister-group of the Apodiformes; (x) Trogoniformes are the sister-group of Coliiformes; (xi) Coraciiformes, Piciformes and Passeriformes are mutually monophyletic and closely related; and (xii) the Galbulae are retained within the Piciformes. Unresolved portions of the Neornithes (nodes having more than one most-parsimonious solution) comprised three parts of the tree: (a) several interfamilial nodes within the Charadriiformes; (b) a trichotomy comprising the (i) Psittaciformes, (ii) Columbiformes and (iii) Trogonomorphae (Trogoniformes, Coliiformes) + Passerimorphae (Coraciiformes, Piciformes, Passeriformes); and (c) a trichotomy comprising the Coraciiformes, Piciformes and Passeriformes. The remaining polytomies were among outgroups, although several of the highest-order nodes were only marginally supported; however, the majority of nodes were resolved and met or surpassed conventional standards of support. Quantitative comparisons with alternative hypotheses, examination of highly supportive and diagnostic characters for higher taxa, correspondences with prior studies, complementarity and philosophical differences with palaeontological phylogenetics, promises and challenges of palaeogeography and calibration of evolutionary rates of birds, and classes of promising evidence and future directions of study are reviewed. Homology, as applied to avian examples of apparent homologues, is considered in terms of recent theory, and a revised annotated classification of higher-order taxa of Neornithes and other closely related Theropoda is proposed. (c) 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 149, 1-95.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2006.00293.x", doi = "10.1111/j.1096-3642.2006.00293.x", openalex = "W2153165351", references = "crossref1995systematics, doi101002jmor10382, doi101002jmor10406, doi101002jmor1052090107, doi101007bf02101113, doi101016b978012249408650011x, doi101017s0006323197005100, doi101017s1464793102006103, doi101017s1464793105006779, doi101038nature03150, doi101073pnas0507106102, doi10108002724634199410011524, doi10108010635150500234583, doi10108010635150590950326, doi101093oso97801951223430010001, doi101093oso97801985052350010001, doi101093oxfordjournalsmolbeva026092, doi101093sysbio33183, doi101093sysbio422182, doi101098rspb20001368, doi101111j109600311989tb00573x, doi101111j109600311993tb00217x, doi101111j109600312003tb00387x, doi101111j109636422001tb01313x, doi101111j109636422001tb01314x, doi101111j1469185x1997tb00024x, doi101111j146979981991tb04794x, doi101111j155856461959tb03005x, doi101111j155856461985tb00420x, doi101126science2665186779, doi1012060003008220023870001tmappo20co2, doi1012060003009020042860001mptaso20co2, doi1016660094837320050310192meam20co2, doi1023072408678, doi1023072413134, doi1023072992540, doi10230740168337, doi102992014590582006371pon20co2, doi105860choice323881, doi105860choice343307, doi105860choice392183, doi105860choice405235, doi105962bhltitle106607, gregor1988the, openalexw2506868775, openalexw3217097258" } @article{doi101007s0011400804883, author = "Hutchinson, John R. and Allen, Vivian", title = "The evolutionary continuum of limb function from early theropods to birds", year = "2008", journal = "Die Naturwissenschaften", url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0488-3", doi = "10.1007/s00114-008-0488-3", openalex = "W2164139482", references = "carpenter2005the, coombs1980swimming, doi101002jmor10406, doi1010079789400904095, doi101016s002192900000155x, doi101016s0966636202000681, doi101038261129a0, doi1010384151018a, doi101073pnas0507106102, doi10108002724634199710010977, doi10108010635150802022231, doi101111j10963642200600245x, doi101111j14697580200600534x, doi101111j14754983200600585x, doi101111j15585646200700206x, doi101126science1078237, doi101126science2251499, doi101126science2740914, doi101126science28454232137, doi101130g23452a1, doi101144gslsp20042280106, doi101152jappl20008951991, doi10117702783649922066655, doi101242jeb001701, doi101242jeb005801, doi1016660094837320000260734aaateo20co2, doi1016660094837320050310676aohmma20co2, doi101666040141, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105860choice326223, doi105860choice421568, doi105860choice434677" } @article{doi101073pnas0803242105, author = "Harshman, John and Braun, Edward L. and Braun, Michael J. and Huddleston, Christopher J. and Bowie, Rauri C. K. and Chojnowski, Jena L. and Hackett, Shannon J. and Han, Kin-Lan and Kimball, Rebecca T. and Marks, Ben D. and Miglia, Kathleen J. and Moore, William S. and Reddy, Sushma and Sheldon, Frederick H. and Steadman, David W. and Steppan, Scott J. and Witt, Christopher C. and Yuri, Tamaki", title = "Phylogenomic evidence for multiple losses of flight in ratite birds", year = "2008", journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", abstract = "Ratites (ostriches, emus, rheas, cassowaries, and kiwis) are large, flightless birds that have long fascinated biologists. Their current distribution on isolated southern land masses is believed to reflect the breakup of the paleocontinent of Gondwana. The prevailing view is that ratites are monophyletic, with the flighted tinamous as their sister group, suggesting a single loss of flight in the common ancestry of ratites. However, phylogenetic analyses of 20 unlinked nuclear genes reveal a genome-wide signal that unequivocally places tinamous within ratites, making ratites polyphyletic and suggesting multiple losses of flight. Phenomena that can mislead phylogenetic analyses, including long branch attraction, base compositional bias, discordance between gene trees and species trees, and sequence alignment errors, have been eliminated as explanations for this result. The most plausible hypothesis requires at least three losses of flight and explains the many morphological and behavioral similarities among ratites by parallel or convergent evolution. Finally, this phylogeny demands fundamental reconsideration of proposals that relate ratite evolution to continental drift.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0803242105", doi = "10.1073/pnas.0803242105", openalex = "W2100742818", references = "doi101016b978012249408650011x" } @article{doi10108010635150802022231, author = "Clarke, Julia A. and Middleton, Kevin M.", title = "Mosaicism, Modules, and the Evolution of Birds: Results from a Bayesian Approach to the Study of Morphological Evolution Using Discrete Character Data", year = "2008", journal = "Systematic Biology", abstract = {The study of morphological evolution after the inferred origin of active flight homologous with that in Aves has historically been characterized by an emphasis on anatomically disjunct, mosaic patterns of change. Relatively few prior studies have used discrete morphological character data in a phylogenetic context to quantitatively investigate morphological evolution or mosaic evolution in particular. One such previously employed method, which used summed unambiguously optimized synapomorphies, has been the basis for proposing disassociated and sequential "modernizing" or "fine-tuning" of pectoral and then pelvic locomotor systems after the origin of flight ("pectoral early-pelvic late" hypothesis). We use one of the most inclusive phylogenetic data sets of basal birds to investigate properties of this method and to consider the application of a Bayesian phylogenetic approach. Bayes factor and statistical comparisons of branch length estimates were used to evaluate support for a mosaic pattern of character change and the specific pectoral early-pelvic late hypothesis. Partitions were defined a priori based on anatomical subregion (e.g., pelvic, pectoral) and were based on those hypothesized using the summed synapomorphy approach. We compare 80 models all implementing the M(k) model for morphological data but varying in the number of anatomical subregion partitions, the models for among-partition rate variation and among-character rate variation, as well as the branch length prior. Statistical analysis reveals that partitioning data by anatomical subregion, independently estimating branch lengths for partitioned data, and use of shared or per partition gamma-shaped among-character rate distribution significantly increases estimated model likelihoods. Simulation studies reveal that partitioned models where characters are randomly assigned perform significantly worse than both the observed model and the single-partition equal-rate model, suggesting that only partitioning by anatomical subregion increases model performance. The preference for models with partitions defined a priori by anatomical subregion is consistent with a disjunctive pattern of character change for the data set investigated and may have implications for parameterization of Bayesian analyses of morphological data more generally. Statistical tests of differences in estimated branch lengths from the pectoral and pelvic partitions do not support the specific pectoral early-pelvic late hypothesis proposed from the summed synapomorphy approach; however, results suggest limited support for some pectoral branch lengths being significantly longer only early at/after the origin of flight.}, url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/10635150802022231", doi = "10.1080/10635150802022231", openalex = "W2118740788", references = "doi1010079780387217062, doi101007bf00160154, doi10108001621459199510476572, doi101080106351501753462876, doi10108010635150490264699, doi10108010635150600755396, doi101093bioinformatics178754, doi101093bioinformaticsbtg180, doi101111j14697580200600534x, doi101242jeb001701, doi102992014590582006371pon20co2, doi105860choice353862, doi105860choice392183, openalexw2994240441, openalexw3217097258" } @article{doi101111j14209101200801594x, author = "Butler, Richard J. and Goswami, Anjali", title = "Body size evolution in Mesozoic birds: little evidence for Cope’s rule", year = "2008", journal = "Journal of Evolutionary Biology", abstract = "Cope's rule, the tendency towards evolutionary increases in body size, is a long-standing macroevolutionary generalization that has the potential to provide insights into directionality in evolution; however, both the definition and identification of Cope's rule are controversial and problematic. A recent study [J. Evol. Biol. 21 (2008) 618] examined body size evolution in Mesozoic birds, and claimed to have identified evidence of Cope's rule occurring as a result of among-lineage species sorting. We here reassess the results of this study, and additionally carry out novel analyses testing for within-lineage patterns in body size evolution in Mesozoic birds. We demonstrate that the nonphylogenetic methods used by this previous study cannot distinguish between among- and within-lineage processes, and that statistical support for their results and conclusions is extremely weak. Our ancestor-descendant within-lineage analyses explicitly incorporate recent phylogenetic hypotheses and find little compelling evidence for Cope's rule. Cope's rule is not supported in Mesozoic birds by the available data, and body size evolution currently provides no insights into avian survivorship through the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2008.01594.x", doi = "10.1111/j.1420-9101.2008.01594.x", openalex = "W1975990166", references = "doi101126science1126377" } @article{doi101111j14697580200800880x, author = "Zhou, Zhonghe and Clarke, Julia A. and Zhang, Fucheng", title = "Insight into diversity, body size and morphological evolution from the largest Early Cretaceous enantiornithine bird", year = "2008", journal = "Journal of Anatomy", abstract = "Most of Mesozoic bird diversity comprises species that are part of one of two major lineages, namely Ornithurae, including living birds, and Enantiornithes, a major radiation traditionally referred to as 'opposite birds'. Here we report the largest Early Cretaceous enantiornithine bird from north-east China, which provides evidence that basal members of Enantiornithes share more morphologies with ornithurine birds than previously recognized. Morphological evolution in these two groups has been thought to be largely parallel, with derived members of Enantiornithes convergent on the 'advanced' flight capabilities of ornithurine birds. The presence of an array of morphologies previously thought to be derived within ornithurine and enantiornithine birds in a basal enantiornithine species provides evidence of the complex character evolution in these two major lineages. The cranial morphology of the new specimen is among the best preserved for Mesozoic avians. The new species extends the size range known for Early Cretaceous Enantiornithes significantly and provides evidence of forelimb to hind limb proportions distinct from all other known members of the clade. As such, it sheds new light on avian body size evolution and diversity, and allows a re-evaluation of a previously proposed hypothesis of competitive exclusion among Early Cretaceous avian clades.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7580.2008.00880.x", doi = "10.1111/j.1469-7580.2008.00880.x", openalex = "W2012419237", references = "doi1010292004gl019790, doi101073pnas0507106102, doi101111j109636422001tb01314x, doi101111j14636409200600234x, doi101111j14697580200600534x, doi101126science1144066, doi101126science29054981955, doi1012060003008220023870001tmappo20co2, doi1012060003009020042860001mptaso20co2, doi1016660022336020030770822mbatho20co2, doi10230730135049, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105860choice405235, openalexw2607033038" } @article{doi101126science1157704, author = "Hackett, Shannon J. and Kimball, Rebecca T. and Reddy, Sushma and Bowie, Rauri C. K. and Braun, Edward L. and Braun, Michael J. and Chojnowski, Jena L. and Cox, W. Andrew and Han, Kin-Lan and Harshman, John and Huddleston, Christopher J. and Marks, Ben D. and Miglia, Kathleen J. and Moore, William S. and Sheldon, Frederick H. and Steadman, David W. and Witt, Christopher C. and Yuri, Tamaki", title = "A Phylogenomic Study of Birds Reveals Their Evolutionary History", year = "2008", journal = "Science", abstract = "Deep avian evolutionary relationships have been difficult to resolve as a result of a putative explosive radiation. Our study examined approximately 32 kilobases of aligned nuclear DNA sequences from 19 independent loci for 169 species, representing all major extant groups, and recovered a robust phylogeny from a genome-wide signal supported by multiple analytical methods. We documented well-supported, previously unrecognized interordinal relationships (such as a sister relationship between passerines and parrots) and corroborated previously contentious groupings (such as flamingos and grebes). Our conclusions challenge current classifications and alter our understanding of trait evolution; for example, some diurnal birds evolved from nocturnal ancestors. Our results provide a valuable resource for phylogenetic and comparative studies in birds.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1157704", doi = "10.1126/science.1157704", openalex = "W2107555182", references = "doi101006mpev19980603, doi101038nrg1603, doi101093bioinformaticsbtl446, doi101093sysbio422182, doi101098rsbl20060523, doi101111j109600312003tb00387x, doi101111j10963642200600293x, doi1023072992540, doi102307jctt1xp3v3r, doi105962bhltitle14581, openalexw1569611434" } @article{doi101098rspb20090885, author = "Zhou, Zhonghe and Li, Fucheng Zhang Zhiheng", title = "A new Lower Cretaceous bird from China and tooth reduction in early avian evolution", year = "2009", journal = "Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences", abstract = "A new avian genus and species, Zhongjianornis yangi gen. et sp. nov., is reported from the Lower Cretaceous lacustrine deposits of the Jiufotang Formation in Liaoning, northeast China. The new taxon is characterized by possessing the following combination of features: upper and lower jaws toothless, snout pointed, humerus with large and robust deltopectoral crest, second phalanx of the major manual digit longer than the first phalanx, unguals of the alular and major digits of similar length and significantly shorter than the corresponding penultimate phalanges, tibiotarsus slender and more than twice the length of the tarsometatarsus, and metatarsal IV longer than the other metatarsals. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Zhongjianornis is phylogenetically basal to Confuciusornis and the dominant Mesozoic avian groups, Enantiornithes and Ornithurae, and therefore provides significant new information regarding the diversification of birds in the Early Cretaceous. It also represents the most basal bird that completely lacks teeth, suggesting that tooth loss was more common than expected in early avian evolution and that the avian beak appeared independently in several avian lineages, most probably as a response to selective pressure for weight reduction. Finally, the presence of a significantly enlarged humeral deltopectoral crest suggests that Zhongjianornis shares with other basal birds such as Jeholornis, Sapeornis and Confuciusornis a distinctive mode of adaptation for flight contrasting with that seen in more advanced birds, which instead possess an elongated sternum and a prominent keel.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.0885", doi = "10.1098/rspb.2009.0885", openalex = "W2130068087", references = "doi1010292004gl019790, doi101038nature00930, doi101093auk12041206, doi101111j14636409200600234x, doi101111j14697580200600534x, doi101111j14697580200800880x, doi101126science29054981955, doi101139e03011, doi1012060003008220023870001tmappo20co2, openalexw2607033038" } @article{doi101098rspb20091440, author = "Yates, Adam M. and Bonnan, Matthew F. and Neveling, Johann and Chinsamy, Anusuya and Blackbeard, Marc G.", title = "A new transitional sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of South Africa and the evolution of sauropod feeding and quadrupedalism", year = "2009", journal = "Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences", abstract = "Aardonyx celestae gen. et sp. nov. is described from the upper Elliot Formation (Early Jurassic) of South Africa. It can be diagnosed by autapomorphies of the skull, particularly the jaws, cervical column, forearm and pes. It is found to be the sister group of a clade of obligatory quadrupedal sauropodomorphs (Melanorosaurus + Sauropoda) and thus lies at the heart of the basal sauropodomorph-sauropod transition. The narrow jaws of A. celestae retain a pointed symphysis but appear to have lacked fleshy cheeks. Broad, U-shaped jaws were previously thought to have evolved prior to the loss of gape-restricting cheeks. However, the narrow jaws of A. celestae retain a pointed symphysis but appear to have lacked fleshy cheeks, demonstrating unappreciated homoplasy in the evolution of the sauropod bulk-browsing apparatus. The limbs of A. celestae indicate that it retained a habitual bipedal gait although incipient characters associated with the pronation of the manus and the adoption of a quadrupedal gait are evident through geometric morphometric analysis (using thin-plate splines) of the ulna and femur. Cursorial ability appears to have been reduced and the weight bearing axis of the pes shifted to a medial, entaxonic position, falsifying the hypothesis that entaxony evolved in sauropods only after an obligate quadrupedal gait had been adopted.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.1440", doi = "10.1098/rspb.2009.1440", openalex = "W2163894176", references = "doi10560219780801881206" } @article{doi101111j1469185x200900094x, author = "Langer, Max C. and Ezcurra, Martín D. and Bittencourt, Jonathas S. and Novas, Fernando E.", title = "The origin and early evolution of dinosaurs", year = "2009", journal = "Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society", abstract = {The oldest unequivocal records of Dinosauria were unearthed from Late Triassic rocks (approximately 230 Ma) accumulated over extensional rift basins in southwestern Pangea. The better known of these are Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis, Pisanosaurus mertii, Eoraptor lunensis, and Panphagia protos from the Ischigualasto Formation, Argentina, and Staurikosaurus pricei and Saturnalia tupiniquim from the Santa Maria Formation, Brazil. No uncontroversial dinosaur body fossils are known from older strata, but the Middle Triassic origin of the lineage may be inferred from both the footprint record and its sister-group relation to Ladinian basal dinosauromorphs. These include the typical Marasuchus lilloensis, more basal forms such as Lagerpeton and Dromomeron, as well as silesaurids: a possibly monophyletic group composed of Mid-Late Triassic forms that may represent immediate sister taxa to dinosaurs. The first phylogenetic definition to fit the current understanding of Dinosauria as a node-based taxon solely composed of mutually exclusive Saurischia and Ornithischia was given as "all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of birds and Triceratops". Recent cladistic analyses of early dinosaurs agree that Pisanosaurus mertii is a basal ornithischian; that Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis and Staurikosaurus pricei belong in a monophyletic Herrerasauridae; that herrerasaurids, Eoraptor lunensis, and Guaibasaurus candelariensis are saurischians; that Saurischia includes two main groups, Sauropodomorpha and Theropoda; and that Saturnalia tupiniquim is a basal member of the sauropodomorph lineage. On the contrary, several aspects of basal dinosaur phylogeny remain controversial, including the position of herrerasaurids, E. lunensis, and G. candelariensis as basal theropods or basal saurischians, and the affinity and/or validity of more fragmentary taxa such as Agnosphitys cromhallensis, Alwalkeria maleriensis, Chindesaurus bryansmalli, Saltopus elginensis, and Spondylosoma absconditum. The identification of dinosaur apomorphies is jeopardized by the incompleteness of skeletal remains attributed to most basal dinosauromorphs, the skulls and forelimbs of which are particularly poorly known. Nonetheless, Dinosauria can be diagnosed by a suite of derived traits, most of which are related to the anatomy of the pelvic girdle and limb. Some of these are connected to the acquisition of a fully erect bipedal gait, which has been traditionally suggested to represent a key adaptation that allowed, or even promoted, dinosaur radiation during Late Triassic times. Yet, contrary to the classical "competitive" models, dinosaurs did not gradually replace other terrestrial tetrapods over the Late Triassic. In fact, the radiation of the group comprises at least three landmark moments, separated by controversial (Carnian-Norian, Triassic-Jurassic) extinction events. These are mainly characterized by early diversification in Carnian times, a Norian increase in diversity and (especially) abundance, and the occupation of new niches from the Early Jurassic onwards. Dinosaurs arose from fully bipedal ancestors, the diet of which may have been carnivorous or omnivorous. Whereas the oldest dinosaurs were geographically restricted to south Pangea, including rare ornithischians and more abundant basal members of the saurischian lineage, the group achieved a nearly global distribution by the latest Triassic, especially with the radiation of saurischian groups such as "prosauropods" and coelophysoids.}, url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185x.2009.00094.x", doi = "10.1111/j.1469-185x.2009.00094.x", openalex = "W2121596487", references = "chatterjee2013a, crossref1998encyclopedia, currie2009stratigraphy, doi1010160031018281900924, doi1010160031018295000178, doi101016c20090644421, doi101016jjsames200504002, doi101016jpalaeo200606041, doi101016s0012825203000825, doi101016s0016699580800386, doi101016s0016699583800205, doi101016s0031018298001175, doi101017cbo9780511628948, doi101017s0094837300010575, doi101017s1477201906001970, doi101017s1477201907002040, doi101017s1477201907002246, doi101017s1477201907002271, doi101017s247526300000091x, doi10103820167, doi10106313060577, doi101073pnas0606028103, doi10108002724634199410011538, doi10108002724634199510011271, doi10108002724634199810011115, doi10108002724634199910011124, doi101098rspb20042692, doi101098rspb20080715, doi101098rspl18870117, doi101098rstb19990489, doi101111j109636421985tb01796x, doi101111j10963642200400130x, doi101126science1143325, doi101126science21545391501, doi101126science2645160828, doi101126science2845414616, doi101126science3616622, doi101127njgpa210199841, doi101144gsjgs14720321, doi1012060003009020073021taoeoa20co2, doi101525california97805202420980010001, doi1015468gbdyof, doi1016710272463420020220510toomka20co2, doi1016710272463420072773tclagn20co2, doi101671a1097, doi1023071292217, doi1023071441916, doi1023073889325, doi102475ajss319111253, doi102475ajss32313381, doi104202app20080415, doi10432497802030907329, doi105281zenodo16120887, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105281zenodo16246150, doi105860choice325663, doi105860choice393984, doi105860choice465038, doi107146moggeosciv32i140904, doi10718895fylantbak30809522, openalexw114509570, openalexw1496509561, openalexw1535663436, openalexw205674743, openalexw2242116350, openalexw2788234611, openalexw2991310333, openalexw3208547338, openalexw3215057009, padian1989presence, rowe1989a, walker1964triassic" } @article{doi101371journalpone0007390, author = "Erickson, Gregory M. and Rauhut, Oliver W. M. and Zhou, Zhonghe and Turner, Alan H. and Inouye, Brian D. and Hu, Dongyu and Norell, Mark A.", title = "Was Dinosaurian Physiology Inherited by Birds? Reconciling Slow Growth in Archaeopteryx", year = "2009", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = "BACKGROUND: Archaeopteryx is the oldest and most primitive known bird (Avialae). It is believed that the growth and energetic physiology of basalmost birds such as Archaeopteryx were inherited in their entirety from non-avialan dinosaurs. This hypothesis predicts that the long bones in these birds formed using rapidly growing, well-vascularized woven tissue typical of non-avialan dinosaurs. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We report that Archaeopteryx long bones are composed of nearly avascular parallel-fibered bone. This is among the slowest growing osseous tissues and is common in ectothermic reptiles. These findings dispute the hypothesis that non-avialan dinosaur growth and physiology were inherited in totality by the first birds. Examining these findings in a phylogenetic context required intensive sampling of outgroup dinosaurs and basalmost birds. Our results demonstrate the presence of a scale-dependent maniraptoran histological continuum that Archaeopteryx and other basalmost birds follow. Growth analysis for Archaeopteryx suggests that these animals showed exponential growth rates like non-avialan dinosaurs, three times slower than living precocial birds, but still within the lowermost range for all endothermic vertebrates. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The unexpected histology of Archaeopteryx and other basalmost birds is actually consistent with retention of the phylogenetically earlier paravian dinosaur condition when size is considered. The first birds were simply feathered dinosaurs with respect to growth and energetic physiology. The evolution of the novel pattern in modern forms occurred later in the group's history.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0007390", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0007390", openalex = "W2036031391", references = "doi101007bf00344996, doi101016jtree200508012, doi101016s0764446900001815, doi101023a1008929526011, doi101029sc005p0175, doi101038nature02699, doi101086410622, doi101111j109636422000tb02201x, doi101111j1474919x1968tb00058x, doi101111j1474919x1973tb02636x, doi101126science1144066, doi101525california97805202420980030031, doi1016710272463420040240555gisdap20co2, openalexw1558456135, openalexw1607828269, openalexw3206657856" } @article{doi101016jearscirev201005004, author = "Chough, Sung Kwun and Sohn, Young Kwan", title = "Tectonic and sedimentary evolution of a Cretaceous continental arc–backarc system in the Korean peninsula: New view", year = "2010", journal = "Earth-Science Reviews", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.05.004", doi = "10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.05.004", openalex = "W2024683072", references = "doi101016s0012825200000295, openalexw2206796883" } @book{doi101017cbo9780511980206, author = "Friis, Else Marie and Crane, Peter R. and Pedersen, Kaj Raunsgaard", title = "Early Flowers and Angiosperm Evolution", year = "2011", booktitle = "Cambridge University Press eBooks", abstract = "The recent discovery of diverse fossil flowers and floral organs in Cretaceous strata has revealed astonishing details about the structural and systematic diversity of early angiosperms. Exploring the rich fossil record that has accumulated over the last three decades, this is a unique study of the evolutionary history of flowering plants from their earliest phases in obscurity to their dominance in modern vegetation. The discussion provides comprehensive biological and geological background information, before moving on to summarise the fossil record in detail. Including previously unpublished results based on research into Early and Late Cretaceous fossil floras from Europe and North America, the authors draw on direct palaeontological evidence of the pattern of angiosperm evolution through time. Synthesising palaeobotanical data with information from living plants, this unique book explores the latest research in the field, highlighting connections with phylogenetic systematics, structure and the biology of extant angiosperms.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511980206", doi = "10.1017/cbo9780511980206", openalex = "W1565681752" } @article{doi101073pnas1110395108, author = "Longrich, Nicholas R. and Tokaryk, Tim T. and Field, Daniel J.", title = "Mass extinction of birds at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary", year = "2011", journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", abstract = "The effect of the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) (formerly Cretaceous-Tertiary, K-T) mass extinction on avian evolution is debated, primarily because of the poor fossil record of Late Cretaceous birds. In particular, it remains unclear whether archaic birds became extinct gradually over the course of the Cretaceous or whether they remained diverse up to the end of the Cretaceous and perished in the K-Pg mass extinction. Here, we describe a diverse avifauna from the latest Maastrichtian of western North America, which provides definitive evidence for the persistence of a range of archaic birds to within 300,000 y of the K-Pg boundary. A total of 17 species are identified, including 7 species of archaic bird, representing Enantiornithes, Ichthyornithes, Hesperornithes, and an Apsaravis-like bird. None of these groups are known to survive into the Paleogene, and their persistence into the latest Maastrichtian therefore provides strong evidence for a mass extinction of archaic birds coinciding with the Chicxulub asteroid impact. Most of the birds described here represent advanced ornithurines, showing that a major radiation of Ornithurae preceded the end of the Cretaceous, but none can be definitively referred to the Neornithes. This avifauna is the most diverse known from the Late Cretaceous, and although size disparity is lower than in modern birds, the assemblage includes both smaller forms and some of the largest volant birds known from the Mesozoic, emphasizing the degree to which avian diversification had proceeded by the end of the age of dinosaurs.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1110395108", doi = "10.1073/pnas.1110395108", openalex = "W2083202587", references = "doi1010029780470750711, doi101038381226a0, doi101098rsbl20060523, doi101126science1177265, doi101126science27553031109, doi101126science27553031113, doi1012019781420064452, doi105860choice343307, openalexw1535663436, openalexw3217097258" } @article{doi101073pnas1112694108, author = "Zheng, Xiaoting and Martin, Larry D. and Zhou, Zhonghe and Burnham, David A. and Zhang, Fucheng and Miao, Desui", title = "Fossil evidence of avian crops from the Early Cretaceous of China", year = "2011", journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", abstract = "The crop is characteristic of seed-eating birds today, yet little is known about its early history despite remarkable discoveries of many Mesozoic seed-eating birds in the past decade. Here we report the discovery of some early fossil evidence for the presence of a crop in birds. Two Early Cretaceous birds, the basal ornithurine Hongshanornis and a basal avian Sapeornis, demonstrate that an essentially modern avian digestive system formed early in avian evolution. The discovery of a crop in two phylogenetically remote lineages of Early Cretaceous birds and its absence in most intervening forms indicates that it was independently acquired as a specialized seed-eating adaptation. Finally, the reduction or loss of teeth in the forms showing seed-filled crops suggests that granivory was possibly one of the factors that resulted in the reduction of teeth in early birds.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1112694108", doi = "10.1073/pnas.1112694108", openalex = "W2018519510", references = "doi101007s1143001040949, doi101017cbo9780511980206, doi101038nature00930, doi101038nature01342, doi101038nature08322, doi101098rspb20090885, doi101111j14636409200600234x, doi101139e03011, doi1016660022336020030770822mbatho20co2, doi105860choice343307, openalexw2607033038" } @article{doi101098rspb20110238, author = "Zelenitsky, Darla K. and Therrien, François and Ridgely, Ryan C. and McGee, Amanda and Witmer, Lawrence M.", title = "Evolution of olfaction in non-avian theropod dinosaurs and birds", year = "2011", journal = "Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences", abstract = "Little is known about the olfactory capabilities of extinct basal (non-neornithine) birds or the evolutionary changes in olfaction that occurred from non-avian theropods through modern birds. Although modern birds are known to have diverse olfactory capabilities, olfaction is generally considered to have declined during avian evolution as visual and vestibular sensory enhancements occurred in association with flight. To test the hypothesis that olfaction diminished through avian evolution, we assessed relative olfactory bulb size, here used as a neuroanatomical proxy for olfactory capabilities, in 157 species of non-avian theropods, fossil birds and living birds. We show that relative olfactory bulb size increased during non-avian maniraptoriform evolution, remained stable across the non-avian theropod/bird transition, and increased during basal bird and early neornithine evolution. From early neornithines through a major part of neornithine evolution, the relative size of the olfactory bulbs remained stable before decreasing in derived neoavian clades. Our results show that, rather than decreasing, the importance of olfaction actually increased during early bird evolution, representing a previously unrecognized sensory enhancement. The relatively larger olfactory bulbs of earliest neornithines, compared with those of basal birds, may have endowed neornithines with improved olfaction for more effective foraging or navigation skills, which in turn may have been a factor allowing them to survive the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.0238", doi = "10.1098/rspb.2011.0238", openalex = "W2144479326", references = "doi101002ar20983, doi101016s0065345413600017, doi101038nature02706, doi101073pnas1006970107, doi101086284325, doi101093sysbio423265, doi101098rspb20090885, doi101111j155856461951tb02756x, doi101126science1157704, doi101126science2865440711, doi101136bjo592111c, doi1012019781420064452, doi1012060003009020042860001mptaso20co2, doi101242jeb002246, doi101371journalpone0007390, doi1023072407154, doi105860choice421568, larsson2000forebrain, openalexw2611511275, russell1969a" } @article{doi101111j1469185x201100190x, author = "Benson, Roger and Butler, Richard J. and Carrano, Matthew T. and O’Connor, Patrick M.", title = "Air‐filled postcranial bones in theropod dinosaurs: physiological implications and the ‘reptile’–bird transition", year = "2011", journal = "Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society", abstract = "Pneumatic (air-filled) postcranial bones are unique to birds among extant tetrapods. Unambiguous skeletal correlates of postcranial pneumaticity first appeared in the Late Triassic (approximately 210 million years ago), when they evolved independently in several groups of bird-line archosaurs (ornithodirans). These include the theropod dinosaurs (of which birds are extant representatives), the pterosaurs, and sauropodomorph dinosaurs. Postulated functions of skeletal pneumatisation include weight reduction in large-bodied or flying taxa, and density reduction resulting in energetic savings during foraging and locomotion. However, the influence of these hypotheses on the early evolution of pneumaticity has not been studied in detail previously. We review recent work on the significance of pneumaticity for understanding the biology of extinct ornithodirans, and present detailed new data on the proportion of the skeleton that was pneumatised in 131 non-avian theropods and Archaeopteryx. This includes all taxa known from significant postcranial remains. Pneumaticity of the cervical and anterior dorsal vertebrae occurred early in theropod evolution. This 'common pattern' was conserved on the line leading to birds, and is likely present in Archaeopteryx. Increases in skeletal pneumaticity occurred independently in as many as 12 lineages, highlighting a remarkably high number of parallel acquisitions of a bird-like feature among non-avian theropods. Using a quantitative comparative framework, we show that evolutionary increases in skeletal pneumaticity are significantly concentrated in lineages with large body size, suggesting that mass reduction in response to gravitational constraints at large body sizes influenced the early evolution of pneumaticity. However, the body size threshold for extensive pneumatisation is lower in theropod lineages more closely related to birds (maniraptorans). Thus, relaxation of the relationship between body size and pneumatisation preceded the origin of birds and cannot be explained as an adaptation for flight. We hypothesise that skeletal density modulation in small, non-volant, maniraptorans resulted in energetic savings as part of a multi-system response to increased metabolic demands. Acquisition of extensive postcranial pneumaticity in small-bodied maniraptorans may indicate avian-like high-performance endothermy.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185x.2011.00190.x", doi = "10.1111/j.1469-185x.2011.00190.x", openalex = "W2003924744", references = "doi101002jez513, doi101002jmor10470, doi101002sici1097018520000215261125aidar630co27, doi101007s0011400804883, doi101007s001140090614x, doi101017s0094837300021308, doi101038nature07856, doi101073pnas0708903105, doi10108002724634199710011018, doi101086284325, doi101093auk12041206, doi101093bioinformaticsbtg412, doi101093sysbio41118, doi101098rstb19890106, doi101111j10963642200600245x, doi101111j10963642200900569x, doi101126science1180219, doi1012066481, doi101371journalpone0003303, doi101371journalpone0007390, doi10167102724634200727127tpasom20co2, doi1023071292217, doi1023071441916, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105860choice392183, doi105860choice434677, doi105962bhltitle60562, openalexw2611511275, openalexw3086315876, ostrom2019osteology, owen1857monograph, owen2015monograph" } @article{doi101126science1211028, author = "Meredith, Robert W. and Janečka, Jan E. and Gatesy, John and Ryder, Oliver A. and Fisher, Colleen A. and Teeling, Emma C. and Goodbla, Alisha and Eizirik, Eduardo and Simão, Taiz L. L. and Stadler, Tanja and Rabosky, Daniel L. and Honeycutt, Rodney L. and Flynn, John J. and Ingram, Colleen M. and Steiner, Cynthia and Williams, Tiffani L. and Robinson, Terence J. and Burk-Herrick, Angela and Westerman, Michael and Ayoub, Nadia A. and Springer, Mark S. and Murphy, William J.", title = "Impacts of the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution and KPg Extinction on Mammal Diversification", year = "2011", journal = "Science", abstract = "Previous analyses of relations, divergence times, and diversification patterns among extant mammalian families have relied on supertree methods and local molecular clocks. We constructed a molecular supermatrix for mammalian families and analyzed these data with likelihood-based methods and relaxed molecular clocks. Phylogenetic analyses resulted in a robust phylogeny with better resolution than phylogenies from supertree methods. Relaxed clock analyses support the long-fuse model of diversification and highlight the importance of including multiple fossil calibrations that are spread across the tree. Molecular time trees and diversification analyses suggest important roles for the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution and Cretaceous-Paleogene (KPg) mass extinction in opening up ecospace that promoted interordinal and intraordinal diversification, respectively. By contrast, diversification analyses provide no support for the hypothesis concerning the delayed rise of present-day mammals during the Eocene Period.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1211028", doi = "10.1126/science.1211028", openalex = "W2140803428", references = "doi101016jtree200610002, doi101023a1011317930838, doi101038381226a0, doi101038nature05634, doi101038nature09705, doi101038nature10291, doi101073pnas0334222100, doi101073pnas1016876108, doi101093sysbiosyp031, doi101101gr5918807, doi101126science1067179, doi101353book59141" } @article{doi1012063521, author = "Nesbitt, Sterling J.", title = "The Early Evolution of Archosaurs: Relationships and the Origin of Major Clades", year = "2011", journal = "Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History", abstract = {Archosaurs have a 250 million year record that originated shortly after the Permian-Triassic extinction event and is continued today by two extant clades, the crocodylians and the avians. The two extant lineages exemplify two bauplan extremes among a diverse and complex evolutionary history, but little is known about the common ancestor of these lineages. Renewed interest in early archosaurs has led to nearly a doubling of the known taxa in the last 20 years. This study presents a thorough phylogenetic analysis of 80 species-level taxa ranging from the latest Permian to the early part of the Jurassic using a dataset of 412 characters. Each terminal taxon is explicitly described and all specimens used in the analysis are clearly stated. Additionally, each character is discussed in detail and nearly all of the character states are illustrated in either a drawing or highlighted on a specimen photograph. A combination of novel characters and comprehensive character sampling has bridged previously published analyses that focus on particular archosauriform subclades. A well-resolved, robustly supported consensus tree (MPTs = 360) found a monophyletic Archosauria consisting of two major branches, the crocodylian-line and avian-line lineages. The monophyly of clades such as Ornithosuchidae, Phytosauria, Aetosauria, Crocodylomorpha, and Dinosauria is supported in this analysis. However, phytosaurs are recovered as the closest sister-taxon to Archosauria, rather than basal crocodylian-line archosaurs, for the first time. Among taxa classically termed as "rauisuchians," a monophyletic poposauroid clade was found as the sister-taxon to a group of paraphyletic "rauisuchians" and monophyletic crocodylomorphs. Hence, crocodylomorphs are well nested within a clade of "rauisuchians," and are not more closely related to aetosaurs than to taxa such as Postosuchus. Basal crocodylomorphs such as Hesperosuchus and similar forms ("Sphenosuchia") were found as a paraphyletic grade leading to the clade Crocodyliformes. Among avian-line archosaurs, Dinosauria is well supported. A monophyletic clade containing Silesaurus and similar forms is well supported as the sister-taxon to Dinosauria. Pterosaurs are robustly supported at the base of the avian-line. A time-calibrated phylogeny of Archosauriformes indicates that the origin and initial diversification of Archosauria occurred during the Early Triassic following the Permian-Triassic extinction. Furthermore, all major basal archosaur clades except Crocodylomorpha were established by the end of the Anisian. Early archosaur evolution is characterized by high rates of homoplasy, long ghost lineages, and high rates of character evolution. The rate of character evolution among archosaurs in the Early Triassic is unmatched relative to archosaur rates for the remainder of the Triassic. These data imply that much of the early history of Archosauria has not been recovered from the fossil record. Not only were archosaurs diverse by the Middle Triassic, but they had nearly a cosmopolitan biogeographic distribution by the end of the Anisian.}, url = "https://doi.org/10.1206/352.1", doi = "10.1206/352.1", openalex = "W2009094188", references = "benton1983dinosaur, boulenger1904vion, doi101002jmor10018, doi101007bf02101113, doi101007bf02986571, doi1010160034666791900282, doi101016jcretres200405002, doi101016jgeobios200304008, doi101016jjsames200504002, doi101016s001669959880123x, doi101016s0031018298001175, doi101017s0006323197005100, doi101017s0016756807003925, doi101017s0022336000026706, doi101017s1477201906001970, doi101017s1477201907002040, doi101017s1477201907002271, doi101038114085a0, doi101038248168a0, doi10108002724634199110011386, doi10108002724634199110011426, doi10108002724634199210011473, doi10108002724634199310011511, doi10108002724634199410011523, doi10108002724634199410011524, doi10108002724634199410011538, doi10108002724634199610011283, doi10108002724634199910011124, doi10108002724634199910011178, doi10108002724634199910011201, doi10108002724634200310010947, doi10108008912960600719988, doi101093oxfordjournalsafrafa100309, doi101098rspb20043047, doi101098rspb20071370, doi101098rspl18870117, doi101098rstb19610007, doi101098rstb19650003, doi101098rstb19830079, doi101098rstb19850092, doi101098rstb19990489, doi101111j00310239200300301x, doi101111j109600311988tb00514x, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101111j109636421985tb01796x, doi101111j109636422001tb01313x, doi101111j109636422001tb01314x, doi101111j10963642200700325x, doi101126science10246376, doi101126science1101012, doi101126science1143325, doi101126science1144066, doi101126science1161833, doi101126science1874180947, doi101126science2562999, doi101126science2665183267, doi101126science2725264986, doi101126science28454232137, doi101127njgpa210199841, doi101144gslsp20032170111, doi101146annurevearth251435, doi1012060003009020042860001mptaso20co2, doi1012060003009020073021taoeoa20co2, doi101371journalpone0002995, doi1016710272463420020220510toomka20co2, doi1016710272463420020220593cvancf20co2, doi10167102724634200727350asoitp20co2, doi1016710390290218, doi101671a1097, doi102475ajss319111253, doi102475ajss321125417, doi105962bhlpart22965, doi107146moggeosciv32i140904, galton1977onstaurikosaums, nesbitt2009a, openalexw1574544995, openalexw2183707334, openalexw2310875238, openalexw2894525608, openalexw834136096, padian1990the, riggs2003isotopic, rowe1989a, sereno1997the, smith1990osteology, walker1964triassic, welles1954new" } @article{doi101371journalpone0028964, author = "Fowler, Denver W. and Freedman, Elizabeth A. and Scannella, John B. and Kambic, Robert E.", title = "The Predatory Ecology of Deinonychus and the Origin of Flapping in Birds", year = "2011", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = {Most non-avian theropod dinosaurs are characterized by fearsome serrated teeth and sharp recurved claws. Interpretation of theropod predatory ecology is typically based on functional morphological analysis of these and other physical features. The notorious hypertrophied 'killing claw' on pedal digit (D) II of the maniraptoran theropod Deinonychus (Paraves: Dromaeosauridae) is hypothesized to have been a predatory adaptation for slashing or climbing, leading to the suggestion that Deinonychus and other dromaeosaurids were cursorial predators specialized for actively attacking and killing prey several times larger than themselves. However, this hypothesis is problematic as extant animals that possess similarly hypertrophied claws do not use them to slash or climb up prey. Here we offer an alternative interpretation: that the hypertrophied D-II claw of dromaeosaurids was functionally analogous to the enlarged talon also found on D-II of extant Accipitridae (hawks and eagles; one family of the birds commonly known as "raptors"). Here, the talon is used to maintain grip on prey of subequal body size to the predator, while the victim is pinned down by the body weight of the raptor and dismembered by the beak. The foot of Deinonychus exhibits morphology consistent with a grasping function, supportive of the prey immobilisation behavior model. Opposite morphological trends within Deinonychosauria (Dromaeosauridae + Troodontidae) are indicative of ecological separation. Placed in context of avian evolution, the grasping foot of Deinonychus and other terrestrial predatory paravians is hypothesized to have been an exaptation for the grasping foot of arboreal perching birds. Here we also describe "stability flapping", a novel behaviour executed for positioning and stability during the initial stages of prey immobilisation, which may have been pivotal to the evolution of the flapping stroke. These findings overhaul our perception of predatory dinosaurs and highlight the role of exaptation in the evolution of novel structures and behaviours.}, url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0028964", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0028964", openalex = "W2059526119", references = "carpenter2005the, crossref1976allosaurus, doi101002ar20986, doi101007s0011400804883, doi101017cbo9780511608377011, doi10103831635, doi10103835047056, doi10103845769, doi10108002724634198710011651, doi10108010618600199610474713, doi101126science1144066, doi101126science27953581915, doi101666040141, doi1023071390807, doi102307jctvqc6gzx, russell1969a, wilson1985stenonychosaurus" } @article{doi101038ncomms2104, author = "Zheng, Xiaoting and Wang, Xiaoli and O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "Insight into the early evolution of the avian sternum from juvenile enantiornithines", year = "2012", journal = "Nature Communications", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms2104", doi = "10.1038/ncomms2104", openalex = "W2156664741", references = "doi10103835086650, doi101098rsbl20090310, doi102992014590582006371pon20co2, xu2010a" } @article{doi101080027246342012652321, author = "Hu, Dongyu and Xu, Xing and Hou, Lianhai and Sullivan, Corwin", title = "A new enantiornithine bird from the Lower Cretaceous of Western Liaoning, China, and its implications for early avian evolution", year = "2012", journal = "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology", abstract = "ABSTRACT Recent studies have blurred the distinctness of two major avian groups: the Enantiornithes, a major radiation of early birds in the Cretaceous, and the Ornithuromorpha, the clade including extant birds. Here we describe a new enantiornithine bird from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of western Liaoning, China, Xiangornis shenmi, gen. et sp. nov., which further reduces the morphological gap between the two groups. Xiangornis shenmi has several enantiornithine features, including a furcula with a significantly elongated hypocleidium, a coracoid with a convex lateral margin, and a minor metacarpal that extends further distally than the major metacarpal. However, it also possesses some derived ornithurine features, such as a short alular metacarpal (about one-sixth as long as the major metacarpal) that is completely fused to the major metacarpal, a large extensor process on the alular metacarpal, proximal and distal fusion between the minor and major metacarpals, and an intermetacarpal space positioned significantly distal to the alular metacarpal. This new find indicates that a carpometacarpal morphology similar to that seen in modern birds probably evolved independently in enantiornithines and appeared earlier than in Ornithuromorpha, and demonstrates that character evolution in early birds was more complex than previously believed. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank the field crew of Shenyang Normal University for collecting and preparing this specimen, R. Li for making these drawings, P. O'Connor, R. L. Nydam, and A. Michel for their edits, and G. J. Dyke and an anonymous reviewer for their review and constructive suggestions. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41172026), Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province, and Scientific Research Fund of Education Bureau of Liaoning Province (grant no. 2008S214). X. Xu's work was also supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Handling editor: Patrick O'Connor", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2012.652321", doi = "10.1080/02724634.2012.652321", openalex = "W2158649413", references = "doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101111j14697580200600534x, doi101111j14697580200800880x, doi101126science1126377, doi101126science29054981955, doi101139e03011, doi1012060003008220023870001tmappo20co2, doi1012060003009020042860001mptaso20co2, doi1016660022336020030770822mbatho20co2, doi105860choice405235" } @article{doi101080147720192012690455, author = "O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "A redescription of Chaoyangia beishanensis (Aves) and a comprehensive phylogeny of Mesozoic birds", year = "2012", journal = "Journal of Systematic Palaeontology", abstract = "We review the enigmatic Chaoyangia beishanensis, one of the earliest birds described from the Jiufotang Formation, north-eastern China, and the first to be identified as an ornithurine (Aves: Ornithothoraces) and thus a member of the clade that includes living birds. A complete discussion of the validity of this taxon, which once included the holotype of Songlingornis, is provided, along with a revised diagnosis. The morphology of Chaoyangia is described, including extensive comparison with better known, recently discovered ornithurines as well as several other groups of Mesozoic birds (Confuciusornithiformes, Sapeornithiformes, Enantiornithes). Although preserved information is limited, the large number of fused sacral vertebrae and presence of a distal dorsal process on the ischium are among the features supporting early hypotheses that the only known specimen of Chaoyangia represents an ornithurine. Unique among ornithurines, Chaoyangia possesses two dorsal processes on the ischium, and thus remains a valid taxon. We include this taxon in a cladistic analysis to test morphological hypotheses regarding its systematic position. Although the results of the analysis are highly resolved and support the referral of Chaoyangia and Zhongjianornis to Ornithurae, support for the tree overall is very low. Recently discovered taxa have blurred the once clear morphological gap separating the two ornithothoracine clades (Ornithurae and Enantiornithes), and thus the increase in taxonomic diversity has caused a decrease in the stability of hypothetical\&break; relationships.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2012.690455", doi = "10.1080/14772019.2012.690455", openalex = "W2041801879", references = "doi101126science1126377" } @article{doi101371journalpone0039056, author = "Brocklehurst, Neil and Upchurch, Paul and Mannion, Philip D. and O’Connor, Jingmai K.", title = "The Completeness of the Fossil Record of Mesozoic Birds: Implications for Early Avian Evolution", year = "2012", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = "Many palaeobiological analyses have concluded that modern birds (Neornithes) radiated no earlier than the Maastrichtian, whereas molecular clock studies have argued for a much earlier origination. Here, we assess the quality of the fossil record of Mesozoic avian species, using a recently proposed character completeness metric which calculates the percentage of phylogenetic characters that can be scored for each taxon. Estimates of fossil record quality are plotted against geological time and compared to estimates of species level diversity, sea level, and depositional environment. Geographical controls on the avian fossil record are investigated by comparing the completeness scores of species in different continental regions and latitudinal bins. Avian fossil record quality varies greatly with peaks during the Tithonian-early Berriasian, Aptian, and Coniacian-Santonian, and troughs during the Albian-Turonian and the Maastrichtian. The completeness metric correlates more strongly with a 'sampling corrected' residual diversity curve of avian species than with the raw taxic diversity curve, suggesting that the abundance and diversity of birds might influence the probability of high quality specimens being preserved. There is no correlation between avian completeness and sea level, the number of fluviolacustrine localities or a recently constructed character completeness metric of sauropodomorph dinosaurs. Comparisons between the completeness of Mesozoic birds and sauropodomorphs suggest that small delicate vertebrate skeletons are more easily destroyed by taphonomic processes, but more easily preserved whole. Lagerstätten deposits might therefore have a stronger impact on reconstructions of diversity of smaller organisms relative to more robust forms. The relatively poor quality of the avian fossil record in the Late Cretaceous combined with very patchy regional sampling means that it is possible neornithine lineages were present throughout this interval but have not yet been sampled or are difficult to identify because of the fragmentary nature of the specimens.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039056", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0039056", openalex = "W2096415445", references = "doi10108008912969009386535, doi101111j14636409200600234x, doi101111j14697580200800880x" } @article{doi101016jcretres201304001, author = "Novas, Fernando E. and Agnolín, Federico L. and Ezcurra, Martín D. and Porfiri, Juan D. and Canale, Juan I.", title = "Evolution of the carnivorous dinosaurs during the Cretaceous: The evidence from Patagonia", year = "2013", journal = "Cretaceous Research", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2013.04.001", doi = "10.1016/j.cretres.2013.04.001", openalex = "W2009733453", references = "crossref1976allosaurus, deklerk2000a, doi101007s001140090614x, doi101016jjafrearsci201205005, doi101016jpgeola201205008, doi101016s1631068303000022, doi101017s1477201907002246, doi101029jb095ib11p17475, doi101038277560a0, doi10103835047056, doi101038362623a0, doi101038385247a0, doi101038nature07447, doi101038nature08322, doi101073pnas813801, doi101080027246342010520779, doi10108014772011003594870, doi101080147720192011630927, doi101098rspb20042692, doi101111j10963642200900569x, doi101111j10963642200900591x, doi101111j136531211990tb00103x, doi101126science2725264986, doi101126science28454232137, doi101371journalpone0003303, doi101371journalpone0006190, doi101371journalpone0017932, doi101371journalpone0037122, doi101590s000137652011000100008, doi10167102724634200727127tpasom20co2, doi1023073889334, doi103897zookeys28325, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105281zenodo16246150, doi105281zenodo16492064, doi105281zenodo16692311, doi105281zenodo4664674, doi105860choice434677, doi107312kiel11918, leanza2004cretaceous, openalexw1025856234, openalexw1539913220, openalexw2603335639, openalexw3214948090" } @article{doi101038nature11985, author = "Zheng, Xiaoting and O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Huchzermeyer, F. W. and Wang, Xiaoli and Wang, Yan and Wang, Min and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "Preservation of ovarian follicles reveals early evolution of avian reproductive behaviour", year = "2013", journal = "Nature", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11985", doi = "10.1038/nature11985", openalex = "W1974421300", references = "doi101073pnas1112694108" } @article{doi101038nature12059, author = "Allen, Vivian and Bates, Karl T. and Li, Zhiheng and Hutchinson, John R.", title = "Linking the evolution of body shape and locomotor biomechanics in bird-line archosaurs", year = "2013", journal = "Nature", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12059", doi = "10.1038/nature12059", openalex = "W2095233827", references = "doi101002jmor1052090107, doi101007s0011400804883, doi1016660094837320000260734aaateo20co2" } @article{doi101080027246342013762708, author = "Zhang, Zihui and Chiappe, Luis M. and Han, Gang and Chinsamy, Anusuya", title = "A large bird from the Early Cretaceous of China: new information on the skull of enantiornithines", year = "2013", journal = "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology", abstract = "ABSTRACT We describe the anatomy and bone histology of an enantiornithine specimen from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group of northeastern China. CNUVB-0903 is larger than most Early Cretaceous enantiornithine birds and also different from all other named taxa. Thus, we erect the new species Zhouornis hani for the new specimen. CNUVB-0903 preserves a suite of new morphologies for the clade. Noteworthy are those of the braincase and occipital region of the skull, which was previously poorly known for enantiornithines. The morphology and placement of the large basipterygoid processes and the well-developed basisphenoid recess—comparable in morphology to those of non-avian dinosaurs—highlights the evolutionary conservatism of the enantiornithine skull. The histological characterization of CNUVB-0903 indicates that it was not yet a full-grown individual at the time of death. This, combined with the comparatively large size of the skeleton, supports previous evidence indicating that early in their history, enantiornithines were able to achieve relatively large sizes.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2013.762708", doi = "10.1080/02724634.2013.762708", openalex = "W2004145470", references = "doi101002ar20983, doi10108002724634199710011027, doi101080027246342012652321, doi101126science11282807, doi101126science29054981955, doi1016660022336020030770822mbatho20co2, doi103929ethzb000667478, doi105479si03629236110i, doi105962bhltitle156765, doi105962bhltitle542, openalexw2607033038" } @article{doi101098rspb20131780, author = "Benson, Roger and Choiniere, Jonah N.", title = "Rates of dinosaur limb evolution provide evidence for exceptional radiation in Mesozoic birds", year = "2013", journal = "Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences", abstract = "Birds are the most diverse living tetrapod group and are a model of large-scale adaptive radiation. Neontological studies suggest a radiation within the avian crown group, long after the origin of flight. However, deep time patterns of bird evolution remain obscure because only limited fossil data have been considered. We analyse cladogenesis and limb evolution on the entire tree of Mesozoic theropods, documenting the dinosaur-bird transition and immediate origins of powered flight. Mesozoic birds inherited constraints on forelimb evolution from non-flying ancestors, and species diversification rates did not accelerate in the earliest flying taxa. However, Early Cretaceous short-tailed birds exhibit both phenotypic release of the hindlimb and increased diversification rates, unparalleled in magnitude at any other time in the first 155 Myr of theropod evolution. Thus, a Cretaceous adaptive radiation of stem-group birds was enabled by restructuring of the terrestrial locomotor module, which represents a key innovation. Our results suggest two phases of radiation in Avialae: with the Cretaceous diversification overwritten by extinctions of stem-group birds at the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary, and subsequent diversification of the crown group. Our findings illustrate the importance of fossil data for understanding the macroevolutionary processes generating modern biodiversity.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.1780", doi = "10.1098/rspb.2013.1780", openalex = "W2148541760", references = "doi101007s1143001040949, doi101080147720192010526639" } @article{doi101111evo12150, author = "Dececchi, T. Alexander and Larsson, Hans C. E.", title = "BODY AND LIMB SIZE DISSOCIATION AT THE ORIGIN OF BIRDS: UNCOUPLING ALLOMETRIC CONSTRAINTS ACROSS A MACROEVOLUTIONARY TRANSITION", year = "2013", journal = "Evolution", abstract = "The origin of birds and powered flight is a classic major evolutionary transition. Research on their origin often focuses on the evolution of the wing with trends of forelimb elongation traced back through many nonavian maniraptoran dinosaurs. We present evidence that the relative forelimb elongation within avian antecedents is primarily due to allometry and is instead driven by a reduction in body size. Once body size is factored out, there is no trend of increasing forelimb length until the origin of birds. We report that early birds and nonavian theropods have significantly different scaling relationships within the forelimb and hindlimb skeleton. Ancestral forelimb and hindlimb allometric scaling to body size is rapidly decoupled at the origin of birds, when wings significantly elongate, by evolving a positive allometric relationship with body size from an ancestrally negative allometric pattern and legs significantly shorten by keeping a similar, near isometric relationship but with a reduced intercept. These results have implications for the evolution of powered flight and early diversification of birds. They suggest that their limb lengths first had to be dissociated from general body size scaling before expanding to the wide range of fore and hindlimb shapes and sizes present in today's birds.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.12150", doi = "10.1111/evo.12150", openalex = "W1805585697", references = "doi101007s0011400804883, doi101016jearscirev201206007, doi101017cbo9781139167826, doi101038nature08322, doi101038nature10288, doi101111j14209101201102427x, doi101126science1144066, doi101242jeb01745, doi101371journalpbio0050022, doi101371journalpone0028964, doi101590s000137652011000100008, doi102307jctvqc6gzx, doi104159harvard9780674184404, doi104159harvard9780674184404c5, openalexw2611511275" } @article{doi101126science1228753, author = "Zheng, Xiaoting and Zhou, Zhonghe and Wang, Xiaoli and Zhang, Fucheng and Zhang, Xiaomei and Wang, Yan and Wei, Guangjin and Wang, Shuo and Xu, Xing", title = "Hind Wings in Basal Birds and the Evolution of Leg Feathers", year = "2013", journal = "Science", abstract = "Four-Winged Birds? Recently, nonavialan dinosaurs with feathers on their fore- and hindlimbs have been described. Zheng et al. (p. 1309) describe eleven basal avialan fossils with clear evidence of feathered hindlimbs. Together these fossils show that early avialans possessed four wings, rather than two. A gradual reduction in hindlimb feathering eventually yielded the two-wing condition in today's birds. Such a transition may have accompanied a locomotory decoupling of the fore- and hindlimbs, which facilitated the development of the forelimbs into flight-capable wings.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1228753", doi = "10.1126/science.1228753", openalex = "W1964562470", references = "doi10103820670, doi10103831635, doi101038nature01342, doi101038nature01420, doi101038nature08322, doi101038nature10288, doi101038nature10906, doi101073pnas0507106102, doi101111j14697580200800880x, doi101111j155856461996tb04496x, doi101126science1126377, doi101126science1144066, doi101126science28454232137, doi101371journalpone0036790, doi101666040141, openalexw2607033038" } @article{doi101371journalpone0054848, author = "McCormack, John E. and Harvey, Michael and Faircloth, Brant C. and Crawford, Nicholas G. and Glenn, Travis C. and Brumfield, Robb T.", title = "A Phylogeny of Birds Based on Over 1,500 Loci Collected by Target Enrichment and High-Throughput Sequencing", year = "2013", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = "Evolutionary relationships among birds in Neoaves, the clade comprising the vast majority of avian diversity, have vexed systematists due to the ancient, rapid radiation of numerous lineages. We applied a new phylogenomic approach to resolve relationships in Neoaves using target enrichment (sequence capture) and high-throughput sequencing of ultraconserved elements (UCEs) in avian genomes. We collected sequence data from UCE loci for 32 members of Neoaves and one outgroup (chicken) and analyzed data sets that differed in their amount of missing data. An alignment of 1,541 loci that allowed missing data was 87\% complete and resulted in a highly resolved phylogeny with broad agreement between the Bayesian and maximum-likelihood (ML) trees. Although results from the 100\% complete matrix of 416 UCE loci were similar, the Bayesian and ML trees differed to a greater extent in this analysis, suggesting that increasing from 416 to 1,541 loci led to increased stability and resolution of the tree. Novel results of our study include surprisingly close relationships between phenotypically divergent bird families, such as tropicbirds (Phaethontidae) and the sunbittern (Eurypygidae) as well as between bustards (Otididae) and turacos (Musophagidae). This phylogeny bolsters support for monophyletic waterbird and landbird clades and also strongly supports controversial results from previous studies, including the sister relationship between passerines and parrots and the non-monophyly of raptorial birds in the hawk and falcon families. Although significant challenges remain to fully resolving some of the deep relationships in Neoaves, especially among lineages outside the waterbirds and landbirds, this study suggests that increased data will yield an increasingly resolved avian phylogeny.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054848", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0054848", openalex = "W1978199447", references = "doi101111j10963642200600293x" } @article{doi101016jcub201408034, author = "Brusatte, Stephen L. and Lloyd, Graeme T. and Wang, Steve C. and Norell, Mark A.", title = "Gradual Assembly of Avian Body Plan Culminated in Rapid Rates of Evolution across the Dinosaur-Bird Transition", year = "2014", journal = "Current Biology", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.08.034", doi = "10.1016/j.cub.2014.08.034", openalex = "W2000971221", references = "crossref1976allosaurus, doi10100703064746897, doi101007s001140090614x, doi101016jcretres201103005, doi101016jearscirev201004001, doi101016jjafrearsci201205005, doi101017s0006323197005100, doi101017s009483730001263x, doi10103832884, doi10103835086558, doi101038378774a0, doi101038nature02855, doi101038nature03996, doi101038nature04511, doi101038nature07447, doi101038nature10288, doi101038nature10906, doi101038nature12168, doi101038ncomms1815, doi101073pnas1006970107, doi101080027246342010520779, doi101093aesa383396, doi101111evo12150, doi101111j10960031200700161x, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101111j10963642200900571x, doi101111j14209101201002039x, doi101111j1469185x1997tb00024x, doi101111j14697580200600534x, doi101111j15585646201001025x, doi101111j2041210x201100169x, doi101111j2041210x201200223x, doi101126science1144066, doi101126science1161833, doi101126science1193304, doi101126science1252243, doi101144sp31516, doi10120600030082200635451andtfu20co2, doi1012067481, doi101371journalpbio1001853, doi101371journalpone0031838, doi1022179revmacn14372, doi1022179revmacn8325, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105281zenodo16651680, openalexw2183707334" } @article{doi101073pnas1323926111, author = "Wickett, Norman J. and Mirarab, Siavash and Nguyen, Nam and Warnow, Tandy and Carpenter, Eric and Matasci, Naim and Ayyampalayam, Saravanaraj and Barker, Michael S. and Burleigh, J. Gordon and Gitzendanner, Matthew A. and Ruhfel, Brad R. and Wafula, Eric and Der, Joshua P. and Graham, Sean W. and Mathews, Sarah and Melkonian, Michael and Soltis, Pamela S. and Soltis, Pamela S. and Miles, Nicholas W. and Rothfels, Carl J. and Pokorny, Lisa and Shaw, A. Jonathan and DeGironimo, Lisa and Stevenson, Dennis and Surek, Barbara and Villarreal, Juan Carlos and Roure, Béatrice and Philippe, Hervé and dePamphilis, Claude W. and Chen, Tao and Deyholos, Michael K. and Baucom, Regina S. and Kutchan, Toni M. and Augustin, Megan M. and Wang, Jun and Zhang, Yong and Tian, Zhijian and Yan, Zhixiang and Wu, Xiaolei and Sun, Xiao and Wong, Gane Ka‐Shu and Leebens-Mack, James", title = "Phylotranscriptomic analysis of the origin and early diversification of land plants", year = "2014", journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", abstract = "Reconstructing the origin and evolution of land plants and their algal relatives is a fundamental problem in plant phylogenetics, and is essential for understanding how critical adaptations arose, including the embryo, vascular tissue, seeds, and flowers. Despite advances in molecular systematics, some hypotheses of relationships remain weakly resolved. Inferring deep phylogenies with bouts of rapid diversification can be problematic; however, genome-scale data should significantly increase the number of informative characters for analyses. Recent phylogenomic reconstructions focused on the major divergences of plants have resulted in promising but inconsistent results. One limitation is sparse taxon sampling, likely resulting from the difficulty and cost of data generation. To address this limitation, transcriptome data for 92 streptophyte taxa were generated and analyzed along with 11 published plant genome sequences. Phylogenetic reconstructions were conducted using up to 852 nuclear genes and 1,701,170 aligned sites. Sixty-nine analyses were performed to test the robustness of phylogenetic inferences to permutations of the data matrix or to phylogenetic method, including supermatrix, supertree, and coalescent-based approaches, maximum-likelihood and Bayesian methods, partitioned and unpartitioned analyses, and amino acid versus DNA alignments. Among other results, we find robust support for a sister-group relationship between land plants and one group of streptophyte green algae, the Zygnematophyceae. Strong and robust support for a clade comprising liverworts and mosses is inconsistent with a widely accepted view of early land plant evolution, and suggests that phylogenetic hypotheses used to understand the evolution of fundamental plant traits should be reevaluated.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1323926111", doi = "10.1073/pnas.1323926111", openalex = "W2013277649", references = "doi101016jtree200901009, doi101016s0022283605803602, doi10103837918, doi101046j109583392003t01100158x, doi101093bioinformatics83275, doi101093bioinformaticsbtl446, doi101093sysbio463523, doi101093sysbiosyt022, doi101111boj12385, doi101111j10958339200900996x, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi1011861471214811104, doi101371journalpcbi1002195, doi1023072346830, openalexw3148514506" } @article{doi101080027246342013812101, author = "Wang, Min and O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "A new robust enantiornithine bird from the Lower Cretaceous of China with scansorial adaptations", year = "2014", journal = "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology", abstract = "We describe a new enantiornithine bird, Fortunguavis xiaotaizicus, gen. et sp. nov, from the Lower Cretaceous lacustrine deposits of the Jiufotang Formation in northeastern China. The new taxon has a strongly dorsoventrally bowed furcula indicating that enantiornithines evolved furcular morphologies in parallel with ornithuromorphs. The new specimen has very robust limbs compared with other enantiornithines and has an unique foot morphology with metatarsal II much shorter than metatarsal IV, robust pedal digits, and strongly recurved pedal unguals. Although recurved unguals characterize Enantiornithes, the extreme curvature present in Fortunguavis suggests scansorial specialization in this species. These features hint at a unique ecology for this taxon and further increase the known diversity of body plans in Early Cretaceous enantiornithines.SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at http://www.tandfonline.com/UJVP.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2013.812101", doi = "10.1080/02724634.2013.812101", openalex = "W2082457326", references = "doi101080027246342013794814" } @article{doi101093nsrnwu055, author = "Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "The Jehol Biota, an Early Cretaceous terrestrial Lagerstätte: new discoveries and implications", year = "2014", journal = "National Science Review", abstract = "Abstract The study of the Early Cretaceous terrestrial Jehol Biota, which provides a rare window for reconstruction of a Lower Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystem, is reviewed with a focus on some of the latest progress. A newly proposed definition of the biota based on paleoecology and taphonomy is accepted. Although the Jehol fossils are mainly preserved in two types of sedimentary rocks, there are various types of preservation with a complex mechanism that remains to be understood. New discoveries of significant taxa from the Jehol Biota, with an updated introduction of its diversity, confirm that the Jehol Biota represents one of the most diversified biotas of the Mesozoic. The evolutionary significance of major biological groups (e.g. dinosaurs, birds, mammals, pterosaurs, insects, and plants) is discussed mainly in the light of recent discoveries, and some of the most remarkable aspects of the biota are highlighted. The global and local geological, paleogeographic, and paleoenvironmental background of the Jehol Biota have contributed to the unique composition, evolution, and preservation of the biota, demonstrating widespread faunal exchanges between Asia and other continents caused by the presence of the Eurasia–North American continental mass and its link to South America, and confirming northeastern China as the origin and diversification center for a variety of Cretaceous biological groups. Although some progress has been made on the reconstruction of the paleotemperature at the time of the Jehol Biota, much more work is needed to confirm a possible link between the remarkable diversity of the biota and the cold intervals during the Early Cretaceous. Finally, future directions for the study of the Jehol Biota are proposed that highlight the great potential of more comprehensive and multidisciplinary studies to further our understanding of the biological and geological implications of the Jehol Lagerstätte.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwu055", doi = "10.1093/nsr/nwu055", openalex = "W2109861196", references = "doi101002gj1045, doi101007s0011401208891, doi101007s1143001040949, doi101016jepsl200502019, doi1010291999pa900040, doi10102992jb00648, doi10103821872, doi10103834356, doi101038nature01342, doi101038nature01420, doi101038nature05627, doi101038nature08322, doi101038nature10906, doi101038nature12973, doi101073pnas0507106102, doi101073pnas1011369108, doi101073pnas1112694108, doi101098rspb20090885, doi101111j14636409200600234x, doi101111j14697580200800880x, doi101126science1069439, doi101126science1213780, doi101126science1228753, doi10113008137233291, doi105194cp813232012" } @article{doi101098rspb20140608, author = "Mitchell, Jonathan S. and Makovicky, Peter J.", title = "Low ecological disparity in Early Cretaceous birds", year = "2014", journal = "Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences", abstract = "Ecological divergence is thought to be coupled with evolutionary radiations, yet the strength of this coupling is unclear. When birds diversified ecologically has received much less attention than their hotly debated crown divergence time. Here, we quantify how accurately skeletal morphology can predict ecology in living and extinct birds, and show that the earliest known assemblage of birds (=pygostylians) from the Jehol Biota (≈125 Ma) was substantially impoverished ecologically. The Jehol avifauna has few representatives of highly preservable ecomorphs (e.g. aquatic forms) and a notable lack of ecomorphological overlap with the pterosaur assemblage (e.g. no large or aerially foraging pygostylians). Comparisons of the Jehol functional diversity with modern and subfossil avian assemblages show that taphonomic bias alone cannot explain the ecomorphological impoverishment. However, evolutionary simulations suggest that the constrained ecological diversity of the Early Cretaceous pygostylians is consistent with what is expected from a relatively young radiation. Regardless of the proximate biological explanation, the anomalously low functional diversity of the Jehol birds is evidence both for ecological vacancies in Cretaceous ecosystems, which were subsequently filled by the radiation of crown Aves, and for discordance between taxonomic richness and ecological diversity in the best-known Mesozoic ecosystem.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0608", doi = "10.1098/rspb.2014.0608", openalex = "W2111876552", references = "doi101111jzo12113, doi10166613052" } @article{doi101111jzo12113, author = "Naish, Darren", title = "The fossil record of bird behaviour", year = "2014", journal = "Journal of Zoology", abstract = "Abstract Between the M iddle J urassic and H olocene, birds evolved an enormous diversity of behaviours. The distribution and antiquity of these behaviours is difficult to establish given a relatively poor fossil record. Rare crop, stomach and gut contents typically reveal diets consistent with morphology but stem‐members of some lineages (including C ariamae and C oraciiformes) seem to have been different in ecology from their extant relatives. Most of our ideas about the behaviour of fossil birds are based on analogy (with skull form, limb proportions and claw curvature being used to guide hypotheses). However, this has limitations given that some extinct taxa lack extant analogues and that some extant taxa do not behave as predicted by osteology. Reductionist methods have been used to test predation style and running ability in fossil taxa including moa, G astornis and phorusrhacids. Virtually nothing is known of nesting and nest‐building behaviour but colonial nesting is known from the C retaceous onwards. Rare vegetative nests demonstrate modern nest‐building from the E ocene onwards. Ornamental rectrices indicate that sexually driven display drove some aspects of feather evolution and evidence for loud vocal behaviour and intraspecific combat is known for some taxa. Our knowledge of fossil bird behaviour indicates that ‘modern’ behaviours are at least as old as crown birds. Stem‐members of extant lineages, however, may sometimes or often have differed from extant taxa.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12113", doi = "10.1111/jzo.12113", openalex = "W2113579774", references = "doi1010079783030876456, doi101007s0011401209171, doi101016s014019631831231x, doi101017s0094837300006564, doi101038nature00930, doi101073pnas1011924108, doi101080027246342012719176, doi101093icb302251, doi101098rspb19980308, doi101111j15023931201100300x, doi101146annurevento48091801112725, doi1023073889096, openalexw114509570, witmer1991biomechanics" } @article{doi101126science1252243, author = "Lee, Michael S. Y. and Cau, Andrea and Naish, Darren and Dyke, Gareth J.", title = "Sustained miniaturization and anatomical innovation in the dinosaurian ancestors of birds", year = "2014", journal = "Science", abstract = "Recent discoveries have highlighted the dramatic evolutionary transformation of massive, ground-dwelling theropod dinosaurs into light, volant birds. Here, we apply Bayesian approaches (originally developed for inferring geographic spread and rates of molecular evolution in viruses) in a different context: to infer size changes and rates of anatomical innovation (across up to 1549 skeletal characters) in fossils. These approaches identify two drivers underlying the dinosaur-bird transition. The theropod lineage directly ancestral to birds undergoes sustained miniaturization across 50 million years and at least 12 consecutive branches (internodes) and evolves skeletal adaptations four times faster than other dinosaurs. The distinct, prolonged phase of miniaturization along the bird stem would have facilitated the evolution of many novelties associated with small body size, such as reorientation of body mass, increased aerial ability, and paedomorphic skulls with reduced snouts but enlarged eyes and brains.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1252243", doi = "10.1126/science.1252243", openalex = "W2068703220", references = "christiansen2004mass, doi101016jearscirev201004001, doi101038nature10906, doi101038nature11146, doi101038nature12168, doi101073pnas1203238109, doi10108001621459199510476572, doi101080106351501753462876, doi101080147720192010484650, doi101080147720192011630927, doi101093bioinformaticsbtm388, doi101093molbevmss075, doi101093oxfordjournalsmolbeva003872, doi101093sysbiosys029, doi101098rspb20122526, doi101111evo12150, doi101111j10963642200900591x, doi101111j1469185x200900094x, doi101126science1193304, doi101126science1225376, doi101126science1228753, doi101371journalpbio0040088, doi101371journalpbio1001853, doi1022179revmacn14372, doi102307409735, doi105281zenodo16171435, nesbitt2013the, openalexw2611511275, rauhut2003a" } @article{doi101126science1253293, author = "Xu, Xing and Zhou, Zhonghe and Dudley, Robert and Mackem, Susan and Chuong, Cheng‐Ming and Erickson, Gregory M. and Varricchio, David J.", title = "An integrative approach to understanding bird origins", year = "2014", journal = "Science", abstract = "Recent discoveries of spectacular dinosaur fossils overwhelmingly support the hypothesis that birds are descended from maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs, and furthermore, demonstrate that distinctive bird characteristics such as feathers, flight, endothermic physiology, unique strategies for reproduction and growth, and a novel pulmonary system originated among Mesozoic terrestrial dinosaurs. The transition from ground-living to flight-capable theropod dinosaurs now probably represents one of the best-documented major evolutionary transitions in life history. Recent studies in developmental biology and other disciplines provide additional insights into how bird characteristics originated and evolved. The iconic features of extant birds for the most part evolved in a gradual and stepwise fashion throughout archosaur evolution. However, new data also highlight occasional bursts of morphological novelty at certain stages particularly close to the origin of birds and an unavoidable complex, mosaic evolutionary distribution of major bird characteristics on the theropod tree. Research into bird origins provides a premier example of how paleontological and neontological data can interact to reveal the complexity of major innovations, to answer key evolutionary questions, and to lead to new research directions. A better understanding of bird origins requires multifaceted and integrative approaches, yet fossils necessarily provide the final test of any evolutionary model.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1253293", doi = "10.1126/science.1253293", openalex = "W2033992760", references = "doi101002sici1097010x199912152854291aidjez130co29, doi10100797814615698316, doi101016jcub201209052, doi10103831635, doi10103834356, doi10103835086500, doi10103835086558, doi101038368196a0, doi101038378774a0, doi101038385247a0, doi101038387390a0, doi101038415780a, doi101038nature00930, doi101038nature01342, doi101038nature02898, doi101038nature03996, doi101038nature04511, doi101038nature05621, doi101038nature07447, doi101038nature07856, doi101038nature08322, doi101038nature08740, doi101038nature11146, doi101038nature12168, doi101038nature12424, doi101038nature12973, doi101038nature13467, doi101073pnas1203238109, doi10108002724634199910011125, doi101098rsbl20070254, doi101111j10963642200600245x, doi101111j1469185x201100190x, doi101111j155856461996tb04496x, doi101126science1078237, doi101126science1144066, doi101126science1180219, doi101126science1213780, doi101126science1225376, doi101126science1228753, doi101126science1252243, doi101126science1253143, doi101126science28454232137, doi101139e03011, doi1012067481, doi101371journalpone0003303, doi101371journalpone0007390, doi101371journalpone0036790, doi101371journalpone0081917, doi1015468gbdyof, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105860choice421568, ostrom2019osteology" } @article{doi101126science1253451, author = "Jarvis, Erich D. and Mirarab, Siavash and Aberer, Andre J. and Li, Bo and Houde, Peter and Li, Cai and Ho, Simon Y. W. and Faircloth, Brant C. and Nabholz, Benoît and Howard, Jason T. and Suh, Alexander and Weber, Claudia and da Fonseca, Rute R. and Li, Jianwen and Zhang, Fang and Li, Hui and Zhou, Long and Narula, Nitish and Liu, Liang and Ganapathy, Ganesh and Boussau, Bastien and Bayzid, Md. Shamsuzzoha and Zavidovych, Volodymyr and Subramanian, Sankar and Gabaldón, Toni and Capella-Gutiérrez, Salvador and Huerta‐Cepas, Jaime and Rekepalli, Bhanu and Munch, Kasper and Schierup, Mikkel Heide and Lindow, Bent Erik Kramer and Warren, Wesley C. and Ray, David A. and Green, Richard E. and Bruford, Michael W. and Zhan, Xiangjiang and Dixon, Andrew and Li, Shengbin and Li, Ning and Huang, Yinhua and Derryberry, Elizabeth P. and Bertelsen, Mads F. and Sheldon, Frederick H. and Brumfield, Robb T. and Mello, Claudio V. and Lovell, Peter V. and Wirthlin, Morgan and Schneider, Maria Paula Cruz and Prosdocimi, Francisco and Castruita, José Alfredo Samaniego and Velazquez, Amhed Missael Vargas and Alfaro‐Núñez, Alonzo and Campos, Paula F. and Petersen, Bent and Sicheritz‐Pontén, Thomas and Pas, An and Bailey, Tom and Scofield, R. Paul and Bunce, Michael and Lambert, David M. and Zhou, Qi and Perelman, Polina L. and Driskell, Amy C. and Shapiro, Beth and Xiong, Zijun and Zeng, Yongli and Liu, Shiping and Li, Zhenyu and Liu, Binghang and Wu, Kui and Xiao, Jin and Yinqi, Xiong and Zheng, Qiuemei and Zhang, Yong and Yang, Huanming and Wang, Jian and Smeds, Linnéa and Rheindt, Frank E. and Braun, Michael J. and Fjeldså, Jon and Orlando, Ludovic and Barker, F. Keith and Jønsson, Knud A. and Johnson, Warren E. and Koepfli, Klaus‐Peter and O’Brien, Stephen J. and Haussler, David and Ryder, Oliver A. and Rahbek, Carsten and Willerslev, Eske and Graves, Gary R. and Glenn, Travis C. and McCormack, John E. and Burt, David W. and Ellegren, Hans and Alström, Per and Edwards, Scott V. and Stamatakis, Alexandros and Mindell, David P. and Cracraft, Joël", title = "Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds", year = "2014", journal = "Science", abstract = "To better determine the history of modern birds, we performed a genome-scale phylogenetic analysis of 48 species representing all orders of Neoaves using phylogenomic methods created to handle genome-scale data. We recovered a highly resolved tree that confirms previously controversial sister or close relationships. We identified the first divergence in Neoaves, two groups we named Passerea and Columbea, representing independent lineages of diverse and convergently evolved land and water bird species. Among Passerea, we infer the common ancestor of core landbirds to have been an apex predator and confirm independent gains of vocal learning. Among Columbea, we identify pigeons and flamingoes as belonging to sister clades. Even with whole genomes, some of the earliest branches in Neoaves proved challenging to resolve, which was best explained by massive protein-coding sequence convergence and high levels of incomplete lineage sorting that occurred during a rapid radiation after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event about 66 million years ago.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1253451", doi = "10.1126/science.1253451", openalex = "W2119837484", references = "doi101016jtree200901009, doi101038nature03150, doi101038nature11631, doi101038nature12130, doi101073pnas0401892101, doi101073pnas1110395108, doi101093bibbbn013, doi101093bioinformaticsbtp348, doi101093nargki198, doi101093oxfordjournalsmolbeva026334, doi101093sysbio463523, doi101093sysbiosys004, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101111j10963642200600293x, doi101111j14209101201002029x, doi101126science1157704, doi101126science1177265, doi101126science1211028, doi101126science1229237, doi101186147121487214, doi1012019781420064452, doi101371journalpbio0040088, doi1018814epiiugs2013v36i3002, doi102307jctt1xp3v3r, doi105860choice392183" } @article{doi101371currentstolc1af68dda7c999ed9f1e4b2d2df7a08e, author = "Davis, Katie E. and Page, Roderic", title = "Reweaving the Tapestry: a Supertree of Birds", year = "2014", journal = "PLoS Currents", abstract = "Our knowledge of the avian tree of life remains uncertain, particularly at deeper levels due to the rapid diversification early in their evolutionary history. They are the most abundant land vertebrate on the planet and have been of great historical interest to systematists. Birds are also economically and ecologically important and as a result are intensively studied, yet despite their importance and interest to humans around 13\% of taxa currently on the endangered species list perhaps as a result of human activity. Despite all this no comprehensive phylogeny that includes both extinct and extant species currently exists. Here we present a species-level supertree, constructed using the Matrix Representation with Parsimony method, of Aves containing approximately two thirds of all species from nearly 1000 source phylogenies with a broad taxonomic coverage. The source data for the tree were collected and processed according to a strict protocol to ensure robust and accurate data handling. The resulting tree topology is largely consistent with molecular hypotheses of avian phylogeny. We identify areas that are in broad agreement with current views on avian systematics and also those that require further work. We also highlight the need for leaf-based support measures to enable the identification of rogue taxa in supertrees. This is a first attempt at a supertree of both extinct and extant birds, it is not intended to be utilised in an overhaul of avian systematics or as a basis for taxonomic re-classification but provides a strong basis on which to base further studies on macroevolution, conservation, biodiversity, comparative biology and character evolution, in particular the inclusion of fossils will allow the study of bird evolution and diversification throughout deep time.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/currents.tol.c1af68dda7c999ed9f1e4b2d2df7a08e", doi = "10.1371/currents.tol.c1af68dda7c999ed9f1e4b2d2df7a08e", openalex = "W2016609453", references = "doi101080027246342012719176" } @article{doi10166613052, author = "Li, Zhiheng and Zhou, Zhonghe and Wang, Min and Clarke, Julia A.", title = "A new specimen of large-bodied basal Enantiornithine Bohaiornis from the Early Cretaceous of China and the inference of feeding ecology in Mesozoic birds", year = "2014", journal = "Journal of Paleontology", abstract = "A new specimen of Bohaiornis guoi from the Jiufotang Formation, comprising a nearly complete skeleton, sheds light on enantiornithine morphological variation and ecological specialization. The new specimen was collected from near Lamadong Village in Liaoning Province, which is the same area where the sub-adult holotype specimen was reported. It provides new information on the cranial and pectoral girdle anatomy of the species, e.g., broad nasal, strikingly robust acromion, medially curved acrocoracoid process. In contrast to the holotype, the newly referred specimen has small rounded stones in the thoracic region that in other extinct taxa has been interpreted as direct evidence of diet. Direct evidence of diet is so far unknown in other Enantiornithes. Specifically the lack of “stomach stones” or gastroliths in enantiornithines despite their excellent fossil record has been proposed to be related to their insectivorous diet as well as to their arboreal ecology. We hypothesize that cranial morphology as well as the number and shape of the preserved stones in Bohaiornis may be most consistent with a raptorial ecology previously unknown for Enantiornithes and considered rare for Avialae. While rostrum shape has a strong relationship to feeding ecology in living birds, in basal avialan birds most diversity is in dental morphology, number, and distribution of the teeth.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1666/13-052", doi = "10.1666/13-052", openalex = "W2054832267", references = "doi101007978140206754912413, doi101017s247526300000091x, doi101038nature00930, doi101038nature11146, doi101080027246342012652321, doi101126science29054981955, doi1016660022336020030770822mbatho20co2, doi105281zenodo16171435, openalexw2607033038, openalexw3217097258" } @article{openalexw2417334803, author = "K, O’Connor Jingmai and Wang, Min and Xiaoting, Zheng and Xiao-li, Wang and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "The histology of two female Early Cretaceous birds", year = "2014", abstract = "We conduct histological analysis of two sexually mature fossil birds from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group referable to Jeholornis sp. and Enantiornithes indet. Histology confirms that in these lineages of basal birds, sexual maturity was achieved before skeletal maturity. The samples reveal structural differences from previously described relevant specimens, indicating that the ontogenetic changes in bone tissue that occur in Mesozoic birds are more complicated than previously recognized. The female specimen of Jeholornis sectioned here is more vascularized than previously described specimens, with both reticular and longitudinal canals. The enantiornithine bone tissue is most similar to that reported for the Early Cretaceous Concornis, primarily formed by parallel-fibered bone but more vascularized than other reported adult enantiornithine specimens. The bone shows a distinct decrease in the rate of bone deposition, inferred to represent the onset of sexual maturity.", openalex = "W2417334803", references = "doi101080027246342013794814" } @article{doi101007s1033601512225, author = "O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "Early evolution of the biological bird: perspectives from new fossil discoveries in China", year = "2015", journal = "Journal für Ornithologie", url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-015-1222-5", doi = "10.1007/s10336-015-1222-5", openalex = "W1976770478", references = "doi10166613052" } @article{doi101016jcub201511036, author = "O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Wang, Xiaoli and Zheng, Xiaoting and Hu, Han and Zhang, Xiaomei and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "An Enantiornithine with a Fan-Shaped Tail, and the Evolution of the Rectricial Complex in Early Birds", year = "2015", journal = "Current Biology", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.11.036", doi = "10.1016/j.cub.2015.11.036", openalex = "W2252124564", references = "doi101371journalpone0126791" } @article{doi101038nature15697, author = "Prum, Richard O. and Berv, Jacob S. and Dornburg, Alex and Field, Daniel J. and Townsend, Jeffrey P. and Lemmon, Emily Moriarty and Lemmon, Alan R.", title = "A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing", year = "2015", journal = "Nature", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15697", doi = "10.1038/nature15697", openalex = "W1887892324", references = "doi101038nature11631, doi101073pnas0401892101, doi101073pnas1110395108, doi101093bioinformaticsbtq706, doi101093bioinformaticsbtu033, doi101093molbevmsl150, doi101093molbevmss020, doi101093molbevmss075, doi101093molbevmst010, doi101093sysbiosyr107, doi101098rspb20120683, doi101126science1157704, doi101126science1253451, doi101126science1257570, doi1012060003009020042860001mptaso20co2, doi101371journalpbio0040088" } @article{doi101038ncomms7987, author = "Wang, Min and Zheng, Xiaoting and O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Lloyd, Graeme T. and Wang, Xiaoli and Wang, Yan and Zhang, Xiaomei and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "The oldest record of ornithuromorpha from the early cretaceous of China", year = "2015", journal = "Nature Communications", abstract = "Ornithuromorpha is the most inclusive clade containing extant birds but not the Mesozoic Enantiornithes. The early evolutionary history of this avian clade has been advanced with recent discoveries from Cretaceous deposits, indicating that Ornithuromorpha and Enantiornithes are the two major avian groups in Mesozoic. Here we report on a new ornithuromorph bird, Archaeornithura meemannae gen. et sp. nov., from the second oldest avian-bearing deposits (130.7 Ma) in the world. The new taxon is referable to the Hongshanornithidae and constitutes the oldest record of the Ornithuromorpha. However, A. meemannae shows few primitive features relative to younger hongshanornithids and is deeply nested within the Hongshanornithidae, suggesting that this clade is already well established. The new discovery extends the record of Ornithuromorpha by five to six million years, which in turn pushes back the divergence times of early avian lingeages into the Early Cretaceous.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7987", doi = "10.1038/ncomms7987", openalex = "W2255397308", references = "doi101007s1143001040949, doi101016jcretres201303007, doi101038382442a0, doi101038nature01420, doi101038nature13467, doi101073pnas0507106102, doi101098rstb19930079, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101111j14636409200600234x, doi101111j14697580200600534x, doi101126science1126377, doi101126science1144066, doi101126science29054981955, doi10120600030082200635451andtfu20co2" } @article{doi1010801477201920151073801, author = "Wang, Min and Hu, Han and Li, Zhiheng", title = "A new small enantiornithine bird from the Jehol Biota, with implications for early evolution of avian skull morphology", year = "2015", journal = "Journal of Systematic Palaeontology", abstract = "Enantiornithes is the most diverse Mesozoic avian clade. Approximately half of the known global diversity of Enantiornithes is from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of China. The Jehol enantiornithines are usually articulated and complete, but the bones are overlain by each other and preserved in two dimensions, severely limiting the number of cranial characters that can be recognized. Here we describe a new enantiornithine bird, Pterygornis dapingfangensis gen. et sp. nov., from the Jehol Biota. The new taxon has a unique sternal morphology with an external rostral spine and a pair of craniolateral processes. Phylogenetic analysis resolves the new taxon in a derived position within Enantiornithes. The specimen is disarticulated with several exceptionally well-preserved cranial bones, including the jugal and quadratojugal, morphologies of which remain poorly understood for enantiornithines. Our results indicate that the quadratojugal is an inverted L-shaped element, morphologically similar to that of more basal birds Archaeopteryx bavarica, Jeholornis prima, Confuciusornis sanctus and Sapeornis chaoyangensis. Our findings also illustrate that the quadratojugal underwent large modifications with the reduction of the caudoventral and squamosal processes sequentially during early avian evolution, contributing to the refinement of the cranial kinesis in early birds.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:384D11F5-1CD3-4447-B01E-58D320B42D49", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2015.1073801", doi = "10.1080/14772019.2015.1073801", openalex = "W1949609553", references = "doi101080027246342013762708, doi101080027246342013794814" } @article{doi101111evo12684, author = "Bhullar, Bhart‐Anjan S. and Morris, Zachary S. and Sefton, Elizabeth M. and Tok, Atalay and Tokita, Masayoshi and Namkoong, Bumjin and Camacho, Jasmin and Burnham, David A. and Abzhanov, Arhat", title = "A molecular mechanism for the origin of a key evolutionary innovation, the bird beak and palate, revealed by an integrative approach to major transitions in vertebrate history", year = "2015", journal = "Evolution", abstract = "The avian beak is a key evolutionary innovation whose flexibility has permitted birds to diversify into a range of disparate ecological niches. We approached the problem of the mechanism behind this innovation using an approach bridging paleontology, comparative anatomy, and experimental developmental biology. First, we used fossil and extant data to show the beak is distinctive in consisting of fused premaxillae that are geometrically distinct from those of ancestral archosaurs. To elucidate underlying developmental mechanisms, we examined candidate gene expression domains in the embryonic face: the earlier frontonasal ectodermal zone (FEZ) and the later midfacial WNT-responsive region, in birds and several reptiles. This permitted the identification of an autapomorphic median gene expression region in Aves. To test the mechanism, we used inhibitors of both pathways to replicate in chicken the ancestral amniote expression. Altering the FEZ altered later WNT responsiveness to the ancestral pattern. Skeletal phenotypes from both types of experiments had premaxillae that clustered geometrically with ancestral fossil forms instead of beaked birds. The palatal region was also altered to a more ancestral phenotype. This is consistent with the fossil record and with the tight functional association of avian premaxillae and palate in forming a kinetic beak.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.12684", doi = "10.1111/evo.12684", openalex = "W1535284157", references = "doi101016jydbio201302022, doi101017cbo9780511693281002, doi101038nature11631, doi101080147720192010526639, doi101098rspb20090885, doi101111j17550998201002924x, doi101126science1182213, doi101126science2204594268, doi101146annureven10010165000525, doi101242dev1172409, doi1023072485224, doi1023073514548, doi107312simp93764" } @article{doi101111jeb12675, author = "O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Zheng, Xiaoting and Sullivan, Corwin and Chuong, Cheng‐Ming and Wang, Xiuli and Li, A. and Wang, Y. and Zhang, Xian–Chun and Zhou, Zhao‐Hui", title = "Evolution and functional significance of derived sternal ossification patterns in ornithothoracine birds", year = "2015", journal = "Journal of Evolutionary Biology", abstract = "The midline pattern of sternal ossification characteristic of the Cretaceous enantiornithine birds is unique among the Ornithodira, the group containing birds, nonavian dinosaurs and pterosaurs. This has been suggested to indicate that Enantiornithes is not the sister group of Ornithuromorpha, the clade that includes living birds and their close relatives, which would imply rampant convergence in many nonsternal features between enantiornithines and ornithuromorphs. However, detailed comparisons reveal greater similarity between neornithine (i.e. crown group bird) and enantiornithine modes of sternal ossification than previously recognized. Furthermore, a new subadult enantiornithine specimen demonstrates that sternal ossification followed a more typically ornithodiran pattern in basal members of the clade. This new specimen, referable to the Pengornithidae, indicates that the unique ossification pattern observed in other juvenile enantiornithines is derived within Enantiornithes. A similar but clearly distinct pattern appears to have evolved in parallel in the ornithuromorph lineage. The atypical mode of sternal ossification in some derived enantiornithines should be regarded as an autapomorphic condition rather than an indication that enantiornithines are not close relatives of ornithuromorphs. Based on what is known about molecular mechanisms for morphogenesis and the possible selective advantages, the parallel shifts to midline ossification that took place in derived enantiornithines and living neognathous birds appear to have been related to the development of a large ventral keel, which is only present in ornithuromorphs and enantiornithines. Midline ossification can serve to medially reinforce the sternum at a relatively early ontogenetic stage, which would have been especially beneficial during the protracted development of the superprecocial Cretaceous enantiornithines.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12675", doi = "10.1111/jeb.12675", openalex = "W2104842482", references = "doi101371journalpone0126791" } @article{doi101126sciadv1501005, author = "Claramunt, Santiago and Cracraft, Joël", title = "A new time tree reveals Earth history’s imprint on the evolution of modern birds", year = "2015", journal = "Science Advances", abstract = "Determining the timing of diversification of modern birds has been difficult. We combined DNA sequences of clock-like genes for most avian families with 130 fossil birds to generate a new time tree for Neornithes and investigated their biogeographic and diversification dynamics. We found that the most recent common ancestor of modern birds inhabited South America around 95 million years ago, but it was not until the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition (66 million years ago) that Neornithes began to diversify rapidly around the world. Birds used two main dispersion routes: reaching the Old World through North America, and reaching Australia and Zealandia through Antarctica. Net diversification rates increased during periods of global cooling, suggesting that fragmentation of tropical biomes stimulated speciation. Thus, we found pervasive evidence that avian evolution has been influenced by plate tectonics and environmental change, two basic features of Earth's dynamics.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501005", doi = "10.1126/sciadv.1501005", openalex = "W2256663809", references = "doi101038nature03150, doi101038nature15697, doi101073pnas1110395108, doi101098rspb20001368, doi101111j10958312201101657x, doi101111j10963642200600293x, doi101146annurevearth031208100055, doi101146annurevearth050212124217, doi101371journalpone0052455, doi1021425f55419694" } @article{doi101371journalpone0126791, author = "Hu, Han and O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "A New Species of Pengornithidae (Aves: Enantiornithes) from the Lower Cretaceous of China Suggests a Specialized Scansorial Habitat Previously Unknown in Early Birds", year = "2015", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = "We describe a new enantiornithine bird, Parapengornis eurycaudatus gen. et sp. nov. from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning, China. Although morphologically similar to previously described pengornithids Pengornis houi, Pengornis IVPP V18632, and Eopengornis martini, morphological differences indicate it represents a new taxon of the Pengornithidae. Based on new information from this specimen we reassign IVPP V18632 to Parapengornis sp. The well preserved pygostyle of the new specimen elucidates the morphology of this element for the clade, which is unique in pengornithids among Mesozoic birds. Similarities with modern scansores such as woodpeckers may indicate a specialized vertical climbing and clinging behavior that has not previously been inferred for early birds. The new specimen preserves a pair of fully pennaceous rachis-dominated feathers like those in the holotype of Eopengornis martini; together with the unique morphology of the pygostyle, this discovery lends evidence to early hypotheses that rachis-dominated feathers may have had a functional significance. This discovery adds to the diversity of ecological niches occupied by enantiornithines and if correct reveals are remarkable amount of locomotive differentiation among Enantiornithes.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126791", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0126791", openalex = "W2144140277", references = "doi101016jcretres201303007, doi1010292004gl019790, doi101046j10958312200300200x, doi101080027246342012652321, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101126science29054981955, doi10230730135049, doi105860choice405235, doi105860choice432219, openalexw2607033038, openalexw617951419" } @article{doi10159023174889201500020001, author = "de Souza Carvalho, Ismar and Novas, Fernando E. and Agnolín, Federico L. and Isasi, Marcelo P. and de Freitas, Francisco Idalécio and de Andrade, José Artur Ferreira Gomes", title = "A new genus and species of enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil", year = "2015", journal = "Brazilian Journal of Geology", abstract = "The fossil record of birds in Gondwana is almost restricted to the Late Cretaceous. Herein we describe a new fossil from the Araripe Basin, Cratoavis cearensis nov. gen et sp., composed of an articulated skeleton with feathers attached to the wings and surrounding the body. The present discovery considerably extends the temporal record of the Enantiornithes birds at South America to the Early Cretaceous. For the first time, an almost complete and articulated skeleton of an Early Cretaceous bird from South America is documented.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1590/23174889201500020001", doi = "10.1590/23174889201500020001", openalex = "W2234463765", references = "doi101017cbo9780511535512, doi101038ncomms2104, doi10108002724634199410011554, doi101080027246342012652321, doi101111j13653091200901114x, doi101111j14697580200800880x, doi101126science29054981955, doi101144gslsp20032170101, doi101371journalpone0039056, openalexw193970361, openalexw2607033038" } @article{doi103389fnana201500102, author = "Corfield, Jeremy R. and Price, Kasandra and Iwaniuk, Andrew N. and Gutierrez-Ibañez, Cristian and Birkhead, T. R. and Wylie, Douglas R.", title = "Diversity in olfactory bulb size in birds reflects allometry, ecology, and phylogeny", year = "2015", journal = "Frontiers in Neuroanatomy", abstract = "The relative size of olfactory bulbs (OBs) is correlated with olfactory capabilities across vertebrates and is widely used to assess the relative importance of olfaction to a species' ecology. In birds, variations in the relative size of OBs are correlated with some behaviors; however, the factors that have led to the high level of diversity seen in OB sizes across birds are still not well understood. In this study, we use the relative size of OBs as a neuroanatomical proxy for olfactory capabilities in 135 species of birds, representing 21 orders. We examine the scaling of OBs with brain size across avian orders, determine likely ancestral states and test for correlations between OB sizes and habitat, ecology, and behavior. The size of avian OBs varied with the size of the brain and this allometric relationship was for the most part isometric, although species did deviate from this trend. Large OBs were characteristic of more basal species and in more recently derived species the OBs were small. Living and foraging in a semi-aquatic environment was the strongest variable driving the evolution of large OBs in birds; olfaction may provide cues for navigation and foraging in this otherwise featureless environment. Some of the diversity in OB sizes was also undoubtedly due to differences in migratory behavior, foraging strategies and social structure. In summary, relative OB size in birds reflect allometry, phylogeny and behavior in ways that parallel that of other vertebrate classes. This provides comparative evidence that supports recent experimental studies into avian olfaction and suggests that olfaction is an important sensory modality for all avian species.", url = "https://doi.org/10.3389/fnana.2015.00102", doi = "10.3389/fnana.2015.00102", openalex = "W1506785858", references = "doi101073pnas1002195107, doi101098rspb20110238" } @article{doi103897zookeys4698439, author = "Csiki‐Sava, Zoltán and Buffetaut, Éric and Ősi, Attila and Suberbiola, Xabier Pereda and Brusatte, Stephen L.", title = "Island life in the Cretaceous - faunal composition, biogeography, evolution, and extinction of land-living vertebrates on the Late Cretaceous European archipelago", year = "2015", journal = "ZooKeys", abstract = "The Late Cretaceous was a time of tremendous global change, as the final stages of the Age of Dinosaurs were shaped by climate and sea level fluctuations and witness to marked paleogeographic and faunal changes, before the end-Cretaceous bolide impact. The terrestrial fossil record of Late Cretaceous Europe is becoming increasingly better understood, based largely on intensive fieldwork over the past two decades, promising new insights into latest Cretaceous faunal evolution. We review the terrestrial Late Cretaceous record from Europe and discuss its importance for understanding the paleogeography, ecology, evolution, and extinction of land-dwelling vertebrates. We review the major Late Cretaceous faunas from Austria, Hungary, France, Spain, Portugal, and Romania, as well as more fragmentary records from elsewhere in Europe. We discuss the paleogeographic background and history of assembly of these faunas, and argue that they are comprised of an endemic 'core' supplemented with various immigration waves. These faunas lived on an island archipelago, and we describe how this insular setting led to ecological peculiarities such as low diversity, a preponderance of primitive taxa, and marked changes in morphology (particularly body size dwarfing). We conclude by discussing the importance of the European record in understanding the end-Cretaceous extinction and show that there is no clear evidence that dinosaurs or other groups were undergoing long-term declines in Europe prior to the bolide impact.", url = "https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.469.8439", doi = "10.3897/zookeys.469.8439", openalex = "W2133891947", references = "apesteguía2011tunasniyoj, doi101002mmng20010040112, doi101006cres20000236, doi101007s0001500812473, doi101007s0011401209171, doi101016004019518690199x, doi101016jcretres200802004, doi101016jearscirev201009005, doi101016jearscirev201203002, doi101016jgloplacha201312007, doi101016jpalaeo200412005, doi101016jpalaeo200909018, doi101016jpalaeo201206008, doi101016s0012825202000752, doi101016s1631068303000022, doi101017cbo9780511608377011, doi101017s0016756800012413, doi101017s1477201907002246, doi101038nature04633, doi101038ncomms1815, doi101038sjhdy6885841, doi101073pnas1006970107, doi101073pnas1211526110, doi101080089129632012763034, doi101080089129632013777533, doi10108010420940601006859, doi101080147720192011630927, doi101098rspb20090229, doi101111brv12128, doi101111j10963642200900617x, doi101111j10963642201000642x, doi101111j13652699200501314x, doi101111j136531211990tb00103x, doi101126science23547931156, doi1011302014250315, doi101139e72031, doi101139e93176, doi101144gsljgs1934090010405, doi101146annurevearth31100901141308, doi1012067481, doi101371journalpbio0040321, doi101371journalpone0012292, doi101371journalpone0020011, doi101371journalpone0044318, doi101371journalpone0054991, doi101371journalpone0072579, doi101371journalpone0080405, doi101525california97805202420980030015, doi10166612041, doi10167102724634200727931dtftco20co2, doi1016710390290428, doi103090610262296200073181198, doi104202app20120121, doi105860choice435902, doi105860choice514447, doi105962bhltitle59991, doi105962bhltitle68064, garilli2009first, lehman1987late, leloeuff1994the, martinsander2006bone, openalexw3015256845, openalexw51761775" } @article{doi107717peerj1032, author = "Cau, Andrea and Brougham, Tom and Naish, Darren", title = "The phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaur bondoc (Dinosauria, Maniraptora): dromaeosaurid or flightless bird?", year = "2015", journal = "PeerJ", abstract = "The exceptionally well-preserved Romanian dinosaur Balaur bondoc is the most complete theropod known to date from the Upper Cretaceous of Europe. Previous studies of this remarkable taxon have included its phylogenetic interpretation as an aberrant dromaeosaurid with velociraptorine affinities. However, Balaur displays a combination of both apparently plesiomorphic and derived bird-like characters. Here, we analyse those features in a phylogenetic revision and show how they challenge its referral to Dromaeosauridae. Our reanalysis of two distinct phylogenetic datasets focusing on basal paravian taxa supports the reinterpretation of Balaur as an avialan more crownward than Archaeopteryx but outside of Pygostylia, and as a flightless taxon within a paraphyletic assemblage of long-tailed birds. Our placement of Balaur within Avialae is not biased by character weighting. The placement among dromaeosaurids resulted in a suboptimal alternative that cannot be rejected based on the data to hand. Interpreted as a dromaeosaurid, Balaur has been assumed to be hypercarnivorous and predatory, exhibiting a peculiar morphology influenced by island endemism. However, a dromaeosaurid-like ecology is contradicted by several details of Balaur's morphology, including the loss of a third functional manual digit, the non-ginglymoid distal end of metatarsal II, and a non-falciform ungual on the second pedal digit that lacks a prominent flexor tubercle. Conversely, an omnivorous ecology is better supported by Balaur's morphology and is consistent with its phylogenetic placement within Avialae. Our reinterpretation of Balaur implies that a superficially dromaeosaurid-like taxon represents the enlarged, terrestrialised descendant of smaller and probably volant ancestors.", url = "https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1032", doi = "10.7717/peerj.1032", openalex = "W1544877698", references = "crossref1976allosaurus, doi10108002724634200310010947, doi101080027246342012652321, doi101080027246342013762708, doi101111j109600311993tb00209x, doi101111j10960031200700161x, doi101111j10960031200800209x, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101111j155856461983tb05533x, doi101139e93179, doi101590s000137652011000100008, doi1023072408332, doi10230730135049" } @article{doi101002ar23446, author = "Wang, Min and Hu, Han", title = "A Comparative Morphological Study of the Jugal and Quadratojugal in Early Birds and Their Dinosaurian Relatives", year = "2016", journal = "The Anatomical Record", abstract = "The zygoma (called jugal bar) in modern birds accounts for a large portion of the ventral margin of the cranium. As a delicate and rod-like element, the jugal bar is functionally integrated into the avian cranial kinesis, a unique property that allows the beak to be elevated or depressed with respect to the braincase and thus distinguishes birds from all other modern vertebrates. Developmental studies show that the jugal bar of modern birds is formed by the fusion of the jugal and quadratojugal that are ossified from separated centers. However, those two bones are unfused and exhibit complicated morphological variations in basal birds and their dinosaurian relatives. Moreover, the jugal and quadratojugal form rigid articulations with the postorbital and squamosal, respectively, consequently hindering the movement of the upper jaw in most non-avian dinosaurs and some basal birds. A comparative study of the jugal and quadratojugal morphology of basal birds and their close relatives such as dromaeosaurids and oviraptorids elucidates how modern birds has achieved its derived jugal bar morphology, and sheds light on the evolution of the postorbital configuration of birds. We propose that numerous morphological modifications of those two elements (morphology changes and reduced articulation with other elements) took place in early bird history, and some of them pertinent to the refinement of the cranial kinesis. Anat Rec, 300:62-75, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.23446", doi = "10.1002/ar.23446", openalex = "W2567544716", references = "doi101080027246342014874529" } @article{doi101038nature19417, author = "Prum, Richard O. and Berv, Jacob S. and Dornburg, Alex and Field, Daniel J. and Townsend, Jeffrey P. and Lemmon, Emily Moriarty and Lemmon, Alan R.", title = "A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing", year = "2016", journal = "Nature", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19417", doi = "10.1038/nature19417", openalex = "W4231969088", references = "doi105860choice405235" } @article{doi101073pnas1602683113, author = "Bright, Jen A. and Marugán‐Lobón, Jesús and Cobb, Samuel N. and Rayfield, Emily J.", title = "The shapes of bird beaks are highly controlled by nondietary factors", year = "2016", journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", abstract = "Bird beaks are textbook examples of ecological adaptation to diet, but their shapes are also controlled by genetic and developmental histories. To test the effects of these factors on the avian craniofacial skeleton, we conducted morphometric analyses on raptors, a polyphyletic group at the base of the landbird radiation. Despite common perception, we find that the beak is not an independently targeted module for selection. Instead, the beak and skull are highly integrated structures strongly regulated by size, with axes of shape change linked to the actions of recently identified regulatory genes. Together, size and integration account for almost 80\% of the shape variation seen between different species to the exclusion of morphological dietary adaptation. Instead, birds of prey use size as a mechanism to modify their feeding ecology. The extent to which shape variation is confined to a few major axes may provide an advantage in that it facilitates rapid morphological evolution via changes in body size, but may also make raptors especially vulnerable when selection pressures act against these axes. The phylogenetic position of raptors suggests that this constraint is prevalent in all landbirds and that breaking the developmental correspondence between beak and braincase may be the key novelty in classic passerine adaptive radiations.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1602683113", doi = "10.1073/pnas.1602683113", openalex = "W2345261486", references = "doi101007s1169200990765, doi101038nature11146, doi101111evo12684, doi101371journalpbio1001853" } @article{doi1010801477201920151136968, author = "Wang, Min and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "A new adult specimen of the basalmost ornithuromorph bird Archaeorhynchus spathula (Aves: Ornithuromorpha) and its implications for early avian ontogeny", year = "2016", journal = "Journal of Systematic Palaeontology", abstract = "Most living birds characteristically grow rapidly and reach adult size within a year. Nevertheless, little is known about how such an advanced developmental strategy evolved despite many discoveries of early fossil birds. Here we assess the long-bone histology from a new adult specimen of Archaeorhynchus spathula, the basalmost taxon of Ornithuromorpha. Ornithuromorpha is the most inclusive clade containing extant birds but not the Mesozoic Enantiornithes. Histological analysis reveals that the cortex is composed of parallel-fibred bone with three lines of arrested growth, indicative of slow and annually interrupted growth for this taxon. Such bone histology is significantly different from that of other known basal ornithuromorphs, but resembles that of enantiornithines, which leads us to suggest protracted slow growth in the common ancestor of Ornithuromorpha and Enantiornithes. The fusion sequence of the tarsometatarsus between Enantiornithes and Ornithuromorpha has long been hypothesized to be different and regarded as indicative that enantiornithines are not close relatives of ornithuromorphs. Due to a lack of fossils recording early ontogenetic stages, little is known about the development of the tarsometatarsus in basal ornithuromorphs, making this hypothesis impossible to test. Here we show that the fusion sequence of the tarsometatarsus in Archaeorhynchus is similar to that of enantiornithines, and that the proximal-early fusion in tarsometatarsus represents a plesiomorphic trait for basal birds. Our findings also shed light on ontogenetic variation of sternal morphology, which highlights the importance of ontogeny in the taxonomic and phylogenetic study of early birds.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2015.1136968", doi = "10.1080/14772019.2015.1136968", openalex = "W4242268476", references = "doi101080027246342013794814" } @article{doi101093icbicw069, author = "Bhullar, Bhart‐Anjan S. and Hanson, Michael and Fabbri, Matteo and Pritchard, Adam C. and Bever, Gabe S. and Hoffman, Eva A.", title = "How to Make a Bird Skull: Major Transitions in the Evolution of the Avian Cranium, Paedomorphosis, and the Beak as a Surrogate Hand", year = "2016", journal = "Integrative and Comparative Biology", abstract = "The avian skull is distinctive in its construction and in its function. Much of bird anatomical variety is expressed in the beak; but the beak itself, largely formed of the premaxillary bone, is set upon a shortened face and a bulbous, enlarged braincase. Here, we use original anatomical observations and reconstructions to describe the overall form of the avian skull in a larger context and to provide a general account of the evolutionary transformation from the early dinosaur skull-the skull of an archosaurian macropredator-to that of modern birds. Facial shortening, the enlargement of the braincase around an enlarged brain (with consequential reduction of circumorbital elements and the adductor chamber), and general thinning and looser articulation of bones are trends. Many of these owe to juvenilization or paedomorphosis, something that is abundantly evident from comparison of a juvenile early theropod (Coelophysis) to early avialans like Archaeopteryx Near the avian crown, the premaxilla becomes dramatically enlarged and integrated into the characteristic mobile kinetic system of birds. We posit that this addition of a large element onto the skull may be biomechanically feasible only because of the paedomorphic shortening of the face; and kinesis of the beak only because of the paedomorphic thinning of the bones and loosening of articulations, as played out in reverse during the maturation of Coelophysis Finally, the beak itself becomes elaborated as the hands are integrated into the wing. There are structural, kinematic, and neurological similarities between avian pecking and primate grasping. The ability to precision-select high-quality food against a complex but depauperate background may have permitted crown birds to survive the end-Cretaceous cataclysm by feeding on insects, seeds, and other detritus after the collapse of higher trophic levels in the food web.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icw069", doi = "10.1093/icb/icw069", openalex = "W2464686792", references = "doi101016jcub201508003, doi101017s0094837300006588, doi101038379249a0, doi101038nature15697, doi101038nature19417, doi101038ncomms7987, doi101038nrn1606, doi101080027246342012719176, doi101080147720192010526639, doi101098rspb20110238, doi101111evo12684, doi101111j109600311988tb00514x, doi101126science1098095, doi101139e05044, doi1012063521, doi105281zenodo16171435, houck1990allometric, openalexw2506868775" } @article{doi101111brv12280, author = "Lovegrove, Barry G.", title = "A phenology of the evolution of endothermy in birds and mammals", year = "2016", journal = "Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society", abstract = "Recent palaeontological data and novel physiological hypotheses now allow a timescaled reconstruction of the evolution of endothermy in birds and mammals. A three-phase iterative model describing how endothermy evolved from Permian ectothermic ancestors is presented. In Phase One I propose that the elevation of endothermy - increased metabolism and body temperature (T b) - complemented large-body-size homeothermy during the Permian and Triassic in response to the fitness benefits of enhanced embryo development (parental care) and the activity demands of conquering dry land. I propose that Phase Two commenced in the Late Triassic and Jurassic and was marked by extreme body-size miniaturization, the evolution of enhanced body insulation (fur and feathers), increased brain size, thermoregulatory control, and increased ecomorphological diversity. I suggest that Phase Three occurred during the Cretaceous and Cenozoic and involved endothermic pulses associated with the evolution of muscle-powered flapping flight in birds, terrestrial cursoriality in mammals, and climate adaptation in response to Late Cenozoic cooling in both birds and mammals. Although the triphasic model argues for an iterative evolution of endothermy in pulses throughout the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, it is also argued that endothermy was potentially abandoned at any time that a bird or mammal did not rely upon its thermal benefits for parental care or breeding success. The abandonment would have taken the form of either hibernation or daily torpor as observed in extant endotherms. Thus torpor and hibernation are argued to be as ancient as the origins of endothermy itself, a plesiomorphic characteristic observed today in many small birds and mammals.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12280", doi = "10.1111/brv.12280", openalex = "W2346237294", references = "doi101002ara20206, doi101016jcub201408034, doi101016jcub201508003, doi101038nature11146, doi101038nature12424, doi101038nature12973, doi101038nature13467, doi101038nature13718, doi101073pnas1203238109, doi101073pnas1519387112, doi101086422766, doi101086425185, doi101098rspb20110238, doi101098rspb20130508, doi101111brv12157, doi101111j1469185x201100190x, doi101126science1180219, doi101126science1200043, doi101126science1206196, doi101126science1213780, doi101126science1228753, doi101126science1253143, doi101126science1253293, doi101371journalpone0068714, doi1016660094837320030290605etatoo20co2, doi1016710272463420050250865hitrif20co2" } @article{doi101111pala12270, author = "Peteya, Jennifer A. and Clarke, Julia A. and Li, Quanguo and Gao, Ke‐Qin and Shawkey, Matthew D.", title = "The plumage and colouration of an enantiornithine bird from the early cretaceous of china", year = "2016", journal = "Palaeontology", abstract = "Abstract Brilliant colour displays and diverse feather morphologies that are often sexual ornaments are common throughout much of extant Avialae. Here we describe a new basal enantiornithine bird specimen recovered from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province in northeastern China. We present new information on the plumage of Bohaiornithidae as well as the first detailed colour reconstruction of an enantiornithine bird. The new specimen retains subadult skeletal characteristics, including periosteal pitting of the long bone epiphyses and unfused elements, while also preserving plumage evidence consistent with sexual maturity at the time of death. Exceptionally‐preserved feathers cover the body, including elongate crown feathers, body contour feathers, asymmetrically‐veined wing primaries, an alula and two elongate rachis‐dominated rectrices that may have been sexual ornaments. The crown, neck, and body contour feathers retain elongate melanosome morphologies associated with weakly iridescent colouration in extant feathers. We provide additional evidence of preserved melanin using Raman spectroscopy; a rapid, non‐destructive chemical technique. The new specimen provides data on skeletal ontogeny in the Bohaiornithidae as well as evidence for intraspecific communication functions of plumage.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12270", doi = "10.1111/pala.12270", openalex = "W2550259249", references = "doi101038299818a0, doi101038nature08322, doi101080027246342012652321, doi101080027246342013762708, doi101098rsif20080395focus, doi101126science1253293, doi101242jeb205233747, doi101371journalpone0126791, doi1016660022336020030770822mbatho20co2, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105962bhltitle542, openalexw2607033038" } @article{doi101038ncomms14141, author = "Wang, Min and O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Pan, Yanhong and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "A bizarre Early Cretaceous enantiornithine bird with unique crural feathers and an ornithuromorph plough-shaped pygostyle", year = "2017", journal = "Nature Communications", abstract = "Enantiornithes are the most successful clade of Mesozoic birds. Here, we describe a new enantiornithine bird, Cruralispennia multidonta gen. et sp. nov., from the Protopteryx-horizon of the Early Cretaceous Huajiying Formation of China. Despite being among the oldest known enantiornithines, Cruralispennia displays derived morphologies that are unexpected at such an early stage in the evolution of this clade. A plough-shaped pygostyle, like that of the Ornithuromorpha, evolved convergently in the Cruralispennia lineage, highlighting the homoplastic nature of early avian evolution. The extremely slender coracoid morphology was previously unknown among Early Cretaceous enantiornithines but is common in Late Cretaceous taxa, indicating that by 131 million years ago this clade had already experienced considerable morphological differentiation. Cruralispennia preserves unusual crural feathers that are proximally wire-like with filamentous distal tips, a new morphotype previously unknown among fossil or modern feathers, further increasing the known diversity of primitive feather morphologies.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14141", doi = "10.1038/ncomms14141", openalex = "W2583568278", references = "doi101371journalpone0126791" } @article{doi101038s4155901702882, author = "Fabbri, Matteo and Koch, Nicolás Mongiardino and Pritchard, Adam C. and Hanson, Michael and Hoffman, Eva A. and Bever, Gabriel S. and Balanoff, Amy M. and Morris, Zachary S. and Field, Daniel J. and Camacho, Jasmin and Rowe, Timothy B. and Norell, Mark A. and Smith, Roger M. H. and Abzhanov, Arhat and Bhullar, Bhart‐Anjan S.", title = "The skull roof tracks the brain during the evolution and development of reptiles including birds", year = "2017", journal = "Nature Ecology \& Evolution", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0288-2", doi = "10.1038/s41559-017-0288-2", openalex = "W2756279390", references = "doi101093icbicw069, doi101111evo12684, doi1011861471214814128" } @article{doi101073pnas1616702114, author = "Kapusta, Aurélie and Suh, Alexander and Feschotte, Cédric", title = "Dynamics of genome size evolution in birds and mammals", year = "2017", journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", abstract = {Genome size in mammals and birds shows remarkably little interspecific variation compared with other taxa. However, genome sequencing has revealed that many mammal and bird lineages have experienced differential rates of transposable element (TE) accumulation, which would be predicted to cause substantial variation in genome size between species. Thus, we hypothesize that there has been covariation between the amount of DNA gained by transposition and lost by deletion during mammal and avian evolution, resulting in genome size equilibrium. To test this model, we develop computational methods to quantify the amount of DNA gained by TE expansion and lost by deletion over the last 100 My in the lineages of 10 species of eutherian mammals and 24 species of birds. The results reveal extensive variation in the amount of DNA gained via lineage-specific transposition, but that DNA loss counteracted this expansion to various extents across lineages. Our analysis of the rate and size spectrum of deletion events implies that DNA removal in both mammals and birds has proceeded mostly through large segmental deletions (>10 kb). These findings support a unified "accordion" model of genome size evolution in eukaryotes whereby DNA loss counteracting TE expansion is a major determinant of genome size. Furthermore, we propose that extensive DNA loss, and not necessarily a dearth of TE activity, has been the primary force maintaining the greater genomic compaction of flying birds and bats relative to their flightless relatives.}, url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1616702114", doi = "10.1073/pnas.1616702114", openalex = "W2587213787", references = "doi101038nature05621, doi101111j146979981983tb02087x, doi101126science1105113, doi101126science1254390" } @book{doi101093oso97801996945320010001, author = "Martin, Graham R.", title = "The Sensory Ecology of Birds", year = "2017", abstract = "Abstract The natural world contains a huge amount of constantly changing information. Limitations on, and specializations within, sensory systems mean that each species receives only a small part of that information. In essence, information is filtered by sensory systems. Sensory ecology aims to understand the nature and functions of those filters for each species and sensory system. Fluxes of information, and the perceptual challenges posed by different natural environments, are so large that sensory and behavioural specializations have been inevitable. There have been many trade-offs in the evolution of sensory capacities, and trade-offs and complementarity between different sensory capacities within species. Many behavioural tasks may have influenced the evolution of sensory capacities in birds, but the principal drivers have been associated with just two tasksforaging and predator detection. The key task is the control of the position and timing of the approach of the bill towards a target. Other tasks, such as locomotion and reproduction, are achieved within the requirements of foraging and predator detection. Information thatguides behaviours may often be sparse and partial and key behaviours may only be possible because of cognitive abilities which allow adequate interpretation of partial information. Human modifications of natural environments present perceptual challenges that cannot always be met by the information available to particular birds. Mitigations of the negative effects of human intrusions into natural environments must take account of the sensory ecology of the affected species. Effects of environmental changes cannot be understood sufficiently by viewing them through the filters of human sensory systems.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199694532.001.0001", doi = "10.1093/oso/9780199694532.001.0001", openalex = "W2974893960", references = "doi101007s1033600702136, doi101126science1228753" } @article{doi101111brv12255, author = "Tennant, Jonathan P and Mannion, Philip D and Upchurch, Paul and Sutton, Mark D and Price, Gregory D", title = "Biotic and environmental dynamics through the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous transition: evidence for protracted faunal and ecological turnover.", year = "2017", journal = "Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society", abstract = "The Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous interval represents a time of environmental upheaval and cataclysmic events, combined with disruptions to terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Historically, the Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) boundary was classified as one of eight mass extinctions. However, more recent research has largely overturned this view, revealing a much more complex pattern of biotic and abiotic dynamics than has previously been appreciated. Here, we present a synthesis of our current knowledge of Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous events, focusing particularly on events closest to the J/K boundary. We find evidence for a combination of short-term catastrophic events, large-scale tectonic processes and environmental perturbations, and major clade interactions that led to a seemingly dramatic faunal and ecological turnover in both the marine and terrestrial realms. This is coupled with a great reduction in global biodiversity which might in part be explained by poor sampling. Very few groups appear to have been entirely resilient to this J/K boundary 'event', which hints at a 'cascade model' of ecosystem changes driving faunal dynamics. Within terrestrial ecosystems, larger, more-specialised organisms, such as saurischian dinosaurs, appear to have suffered the most. Medium-sized tetanuran theropods declined, and were replaced by larger-bodied groups, and basal eusauropods were replaced by neosauropod faunas. The ascent of paravian theropods is emphasised by escalated competition with contemporary pterosaur groups, culminating in the explosive radiation of birds, although the timing of this is obfuscated by biases in sampling. Smaller, more ecologically diverse terrestrial non-archosaurs, such as lissamphibians and mammaliaforms, were comparatively resilient to extinctions, instead documenting the origination of many extant groups around the J/K boundary. In the marine realm, extinctions were focused on low-latitude, shallow marine shelf-dwelling faunas, corresponding to a significant eustatic sea-level fall in the latest Jurassic. More mobile and ecologically plastic marine groups, such as ichthyosaurs, survived the boundary relatively unscathed. High rates of extinction and turnover in other macropredaceous marine groups, including plesiosaurs, are accompanied by the origin of most major lineages of extant sharks. Groups which occupied both marine and terrestrial ecosystems, including crocodylomorphs, document a selective extinction in shallow marine forms, whereas turtles appear to have diversified. These patterns suggest that different extinction selectivity and ecological processes were operating between marine and terrestrial ecosystems, which were ultimately important in determining the fates of many key groups, as well as the origins of many major extant lineages. We identify a series of potential abiotic candidates for driving these patterns, including multiple bolide impacts, several episodes of flood basalt eruptions, dramatic climate change, and major disruptions to oceanic systems. The J/K transition therefore, although not a mass extinction, represents an important transitional period in the co-evolutionary history of life on Earth.", url = "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6849608/", doi = "10.1111/brv.12255", openalex = "W2283352195", pmcid = "PMC6849608", pmid = "26888552", references = "doi101007s1143001040949, doi1010160031018274900194, doi101016b9780444594259000263, doi101016jcretres201112005, doi101016jcretres201304001, doi101016jcub201408034, doi101016jearscirev201203002, doi101016jgloplacha201105009, doi101016s0009254199000819, doi101017s0016756812000994, doi1010291998rg000054, doi10102993rg02508, doi101038ncomms3827, doi101038ncomms7987, doi101038ncomms9438, doi101080027246342012694385, doi10108014772011003603556, doi101080147720192011630927, doi1010801477201920151059985, doi101086319243, doi101111brv12038, doi101111j1469185x200900107x, doi101111zoj12029, doi101126science1095964, doi101126science1116412, doi101126science1177265, doi101126science17540271199, doi101126science21545391501, doi101126science23547931156, doi101126scienceaaa3716, doi101144gslsp20032170111, doi101144sp35813, doi101371journalpone0029234, doi101371journalpone0103152, doi101371journalpone0112055, doi101371journalpone0125819, doi1016660022336020040780989dapftc20co2, doi1016660094837320000260056cefisg20co2, doi1026879529, doi103090610262296200073181198, doi104202app20110144" } @article{doi101371journalpone0184637, author = "Liu, Di and Chiappe, Luis M. and Serrano, Francisco J. and Habib, Michael and Zhang, Yuguang and Meng, Qinjing", title = "Flight aerodynamics in enantiornithines: Information from a new Chinese Early Cretaceous bird", year = "2017", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = "We describe an exquisitely preserved new avian fossil (BMNHC-PH-919) from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of eastern Inner Mongolia, China. Although morphologically similar to Cathayornithidae and other small-sized enantiornithines from China's Jehol Biota, many morphological features indicate that it represents a new species, here named Junornis houi. The new fossil displays most of its plumage including a pair of elongated, rachis-dominated tail feathers similarly present in a variety of other enantiornithines. BMNHC-PH-919 represents the first record of a Jehol enantiornithine from Inner Mongolia, thus extending the known distribution of these birds into the eastern portion of this region. Furthermore, its well-preserved skeleton and wing outline provide insight into the aerodynamic performance of enantiornithines, suggesting that these birds had evolved bounding flight-a flight mode common to passeriforms and other small living birds-as early as 125 million years ago.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184637", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0184637", openalex = "W2761010710", references = "doi10159023174889201500020001" } @article{doi101016jcub201804062, author = "Field, Daniel J. and Bercovici, Antoine and Berv, Jacob S. and Dunn, Regan E. and Fastovsky, David E. and Lyson, Tyler R. and Vajda, Vivi and Gauthier, Jacques A.", title = "Early Evolution of Modern Birds Structured by Global Forest Collapse at the End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction", year = "2018", journal = "Current Biology", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.062", doi = "10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.062", openalex = "W2804487112", references = "doi101016jtree201109004, doi101038nature15697, doi101038nature19417, doi101093auk12041206, doi101093bioinformaticsbtg412, doi101093bioinformaticsbtq706, doi101111brv12128, doi101111j2041210x201100169x, doi101126science1177265, doi101126science1253451, doi10118614712105788, doi101642auk152161, doi105281zenodo16171435, openalexw1550095290" } @article{doi101016jearscirev201802004, author = "Huang, Baochun and Yan, Yonggang and Piper, J. D. A. and Zhang, Donghai and Yi, Zhiyu and Yu, Shan and Zhou, Tinghong", title = "Paleomagnetic constraints on the paleogeography of the East Asian blocks during Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic times", year = "2018", journal = "Earth-Science Reviews", abstract = "Although the axial and dominant geocentric character of the Earth's magnetic field means that paleolongitude is indeterminate, paleomagnetism is otherwise the only truly quantitative method available to the Earth scientist for constraining paleogeography and reconstructing the kinematic evolution of continental blocks. During the past half-century numerous paleomagnetic results have provided substantial quantitative constraints on the origin and tectonic evolution of the major tectonic divisions now comprising Eastern Asian. In this paper we first assess the available Early Paleozoic to Early Cretaceous paleomagnetic results from the South China, North China, and Tarim blocks using internationally-recognized reliability criteria. We then construct a running mean through a 20 Ma window by weighting the poles according to their Q-factors and fit a spherical spline with smoothing factor of 300 to derive apparent polar wander (APW) paths for these three major blocks during this Early Paleozoic to Late Mesozoic time interval. Together with Late Paleozoic to Early Mesozoic paleomagnetic poles from the Qaidam, Qiangtang, Lhasa, Sibumasu, Indochina, and some other smaller blocks/terranes of East Asia, we produce a series of paleogeographic reconstructions for these major blocks and lesser terranes of East Asia between mid-Ordovician and late Jurassic times (\textasciitilde 460–160 Ma) which, although based primarily upon paleomagnetic evidence, aim to embrace the geological constraints. Finally, we discuss the current evidence for closure times of the Paleo-Asian, Mianlue, and East Paleo-Tethyan oceans which incorporate fundamental issues concerning the formation of the East Asian continental collage and collision with the northern main body of the Pangean supercontinent. We use the collective evidence to argue that these major paleo-oceans had closed by the Late Triassic, and that the East Asian sector of the supercontinent had united to become an integral part of Pangea by that time (\textasciitilde 220 Ma).", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.02.004", doi = "10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.02.004", openalex = "W2794050677", references = "doi101016jearscirev201109001, doi101016jearscirev201212001, doi101016jgr201202019, doi101016jjseaes201212020, doi101016s0012825200000295, doi101146annurevearth060614105254, doi101371journalpone0126946" } @article{doi101038s41467018032959, author = "Knoll, Fabien and Chiappe, Luis M. and Sanchez, Sophie and Garwood, Russell J. and Edwards, Nicholas P. and Wogelius, Roy A. and Sellers, William I. and Manning, Phillip L. and Ortega, Francisco and Serrano, Francisco J. and Marugán‐Lobón, Jesús and Cuesta, Elena and Escaso, Fernando and Sanz, J. L.", title = "A diminutive perinate European Enantiornithes reveals an asynchronous ossification pattern in early birds", year = "2018", journal = "Nature Communications", abstract = "Fossils of juvenile Mesozoic birds provide insight into the early evolution of avian development, however such fossils are rare. The analysis of the ossification sequence in these early-branching birds has the potential to address important questions about their comparative developmental biology and to help understand their morphological evolution and ecological differentiation. Here we report on an early juvenile enantiornithine specimen from the Early Cretaceous of Europe, which sheds new light on the osteogenesis in this most species-rich clade of Mesozoic birds. Consisting of a nearly complete skeleton, it is amongst the smallest known Mesozoic avian fossils representing post-hatching stages of development. Comparisons between this new specimen and other known early juvenile enantiornithines support a clade-wide asynchronous pattern of osteogenesis in the sternum and the vertebral column, and strongly indicate that the hatchlings of these phylogenetically basal birds varied greatly in size and tempo of skeletal maturation.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03295-9", doi = "10.1038/s41467-018-03295-9", openalex = "W2791847597", references = "doi101080027246342013794814" } @article{doi101111nph15011, author = "Barba‐Montoya, Jose and dos Reis, Mario and Schneider, Harald and Donoghue, Philip C. J. and Yang, Ziheng", title = "Constraining uncertainty in the timescale of angiosperm evolution and the veracity of a Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution", year = "2018", journal = "New Phytologist", abstract = "Through the lens of the fossil record, angiosperm diversification precipitated a Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution (KTR) in which pollinators, herbivores and predators underwent explosive co-diversification. Molecular dating studies imply that early angiosperm evolution is not documented in the fossil record. This mismatch remains controversial. We used a Bayesian molecular dating method to analyse a dataset of 83 genes from 644 taxa and 52 fossil calibrations to explore the effect of different interpretations of the fossil record, molecular clock models, data partitioning, among other factors, on angiosperm divergence time estimation. Controlling for different sources of uncertainty indicates that the timescale of angiosperm diversification is much less certain than previous molecular dating studies have suggested. Discord between molecular clock and purely fossil-based interpretations of angiosperm diversification may be a consequence of false precision on both sides. We reject a post-Jurassic origin of angiosperms, supporting the notion of a cryptic early history of angiosperms, but this history may be as much as 121 Myr, or as little as 23 Myr. These conclusions remain compatible with palaeobotanical evidence and a more general KTR in which major groups of angiosperms diverged later within the Cretaceous, alongside the diversification of pollinators, herbivores and their predators.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15011", doi = "10.1111/nph.15011", openalex = "W2788554788", references = "doi101016b9780444594259000202, doi1010292004gl019790, doi101038nature08745, doi101086675935, doi101093sysbiosyv080, doi105860choice503272" } @article{doi107717peerj5831, author = "Li, Quanguo and Clarke, Julia A. and Gao, Ke‐Qin and Peteya, Jennifer A. and Shawkey, Matthew D.", title = "Elaborate plumage patterning in a Cretaceous bird", year = "2018", journal = "PeerJ", abstract = "were present at a relatively early stage of avian evolution, showing the significance of coloration and patterning to feather evolution.", url = "https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5831", doi = "10.7717/peerj.5831", openalex = "W2898646682", references = "diamond2013concealing, doi101038nature08740, doi101073pnas1118448109, doi101098rsbl20080302, doi101111pala12270, doi101126science1186290, doi101126science1193604, doi101126science1205748, doi101126science1213780, doi101152physrev000592017, doi1023074089371, openalexw2607033038" } @article{doi103389feart201800252, author = "Agnolín, Federico L. and Motta, Matías J. and Egli, Federico Brissón and Coco, Gastón Lo and Novas, Fernando E.", title = "Paravian Phylogeny and the Dinosaur-Bird Transition: An Overview", year = "2019", journal = "Frontiers in Earth Science", abstract = "Recent years witnessed the discovery of a great diversity of early birds as well as closely related non-avian theropods, which modified previous conceptions about the origin of birds and their flight. We here present a review of currently the taxonomic composition and main anatomical characteristics of those theropod families closely related with early birds, with the aim to analyze and discuss main phylogenetic hypotheses that compete some topics about the non-avian dinosaur-bird transition. We conclude that troodontid affinities of anchiornithines, and dromaeosaurids affinities of microraptorians and unenlagiids are dismissed in favor of sister group relationships with Avialae. After recodification of unenlagiids the topology of the TWiG phylogenetic scheme, results on a large polytomy at the base of Pennaraptora. Regarding character evolution, we found that: 1) presence of ossified sternum goes hand by hand with the presence of ossified uncinate processes; 2) presence of folded forelimbs in basal archosaurs indicates a widespread distribution among reptiles, contradicting previous proposals in that forelimb folding driven by propatagial and associated tendons was exclusive of the avian lineage; 3) in basal paravians and avialans as Archaeopteryx the wings are relatively large and wide, with relatively short rectricial feathers, and rounded alar contour, having a convex wing attack margin. These taxa exhibit restricted folding capabilities of forelimbs, preserving hands with flexor angles (respect to radius/ulna) no lesser than 90º. In more derived birds, instead, rectrices are notably elongate and the angle described between the hand and forearm is much less than 90º, indicating not only an increased folding capability of the forelimbs, but also increased variety of beat movements of the wing during flight. Because of the strong similarities on pectoral girdle conformation between ratites and basal avialans and paravians, it is possible to infer that main forelimb movements were similar in all these taxa, lacking the complex dorsoventral wing excursion characteristic of living neognathans.", url = "https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2018.00252", doi = "10.3389/feart.2018.00252", openalex = "W2911963001", references = "cau2018redescription, doi10103831635, doi10103835047056, doi101038nature01342, doi101038nature08322, doi101111j109583121976tb00244x, doi101126science28454232137, doi101127njgpm19821982440, doi101139cjes20170031, doi101139e93179, doi101146annurevearth251435, doi101371journalpone0126791, doi101371journalpone0137709, doi101590s000137652011000100008, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105860choice343307, doi107717peerj2159, doi107717peerj4558, osmólska1982hulsanpes" } @article{doi101038s4158602028739, author = "Feng, Shaohong and Stiller, Josefin and Deng, Yuan and Armstrong, Joel and Fang, Qi and Reeve, Andrew Hart and Xie, Duo and Chen, Guangji and Guo, Chunxue and Faircloth, Brant C. and Petersen, Bent and Wang, Zongji and Zhou, Qi and Diekhans, Mark and Chen, Wanjun and Andreu‐Sánchez, Sergio and Margaryan, Ashot and Howard, Jason T. and Parent, Carole A. and Pacheco, George and Sinding, Mikkel‐Holger S. and Puetz, Lara and Cavill, Emily Louisa and Ribeiro, Ângela M. and Eckhart, Leopold and Fjeldså, Jon and Hosner, Peter A. and Brumfield, Robb T. and Christidis, Les and Bertelsen, Mads F. and Sicheritz‐Pontén, Thomas and Tietze, Dieter Thomas and Robertson, Bruce C. and Song, Gang and Borgia, Gerald and Claramunt, Santiago and Lovette, Irby J. and Cowen, Saul and Njoroge, Peter and Dumbacher, John P. and Ryder, Oliver A. and Fuchs, Jérôme and Bunce, Michael and Burt, David W. and Cracraft, Joël and Meng, Guanliang and Hackett, Shannon J. and Ryan, Peter G. and Jønsson, Knud A. and Jamieson, Ian G. and da Fonseca, Rute R. and Braun, Edward L. and Houde, Peter and Mirarab, Siavash and Suh, Alexander and Hansson, Bengt and Ponnikas, Suvi and Sigeman, Hanna and Stervander, Martin and Frandsen, Paul B. and van der Zwan, Henriëtte and van der Sluis, Rencia and Visser, Carina and Balakrishnan, Christopher N. and Clark, Andrew G. and Fitzpatrick, John W. and Bowman, Reed and Chen, Nancy and Cloutier, Alison and Sackton, Timothy B. and Edwards, Scott V. and Foote, Dustin J. and Shakya, Subir B. and Sheldon, Frederick H. and Vignal, Alain and Soares, André E. R. and Shapiro, Beth and González‐Solís, Jacob and Ferrer, Joan and Rozas, Julio and Riutort, Marta and Tigano, Anna and Friesen, Vicki L. and Dalén, Love and Urrutia, Araxi O. and Székely, Tamás and Liu, Yang and Campana, Michael G. and Corvelo, André and Fleischer, Robert C. and Rutherford, Kim and Gemmell, Neil J. and Dussex, Nicolás and Mouritsen, Henrik and Thiele, Nadine and Delmore, Kira E. and Liedvogel, Miriam and Franke, André and Hoeppner, Marc P. and Krone, Oliver", title = "Dense sampling of bird diversity increases power of comparative genomics", year = "2020", journal = "Nature", abstract = "Whole-genome sequencing projects are increasingly populating the tree of life and characterizing biodiversity 1-4. Sparse taxon sampling has previously been proposed to confound phylogenetic inference 5, and captures only a fraction of the genomic diversity. Here we report a substantial step towards the dense representation of avian phylogenetic and molecular diversity, by analysing 363 genomes from 92.4\% of bird families-including 267 newly sequenced genomes produced for phase II of the Bird 10,000 Genomes (B10K) Project. We use this comparative genome dataset in combination with a pipeline that leverages a reference-free whole-genome alignment to identify orthologous regions in greater numbers than has previously been possible and to recognize genomic novelties in particular bird lineages. The densely sampled alignment provides a single-base-pair map of selection, has more than doubled the fraction of bases that are confidently predicted to be under conservation and reveals extensive patterns of weak selection in predominantly non-coding DNA. Our results demonstrate that increasing the diversity of genomes used in comparative studies can reveal more shared and lineage-specific variation, and improve the investigation of genomic characteristics. We anticipate that this genomic resource will offer new perspectives on evolutionary processes in cross-species comparative analyses and assist in efforts to conserve species.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2873-9", doi = "10.1038/s41586-020-2873-9", openalex = "W3042072141", references = "doi101038nature15697, doi101126science1254390, doi101126scienceaav6202" } @article{doi101186s1286202001611w, author = "Li, Zhiheng and Wang, Chun‐Chieh and Wang, Min and Chiang, Cheng-Cheng and Wang, Yan and Zheng, Xiaoting and Huang, E‐Wen and Hsiao, Kiko and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "Ultramicrostructural reductions in teeth: implications for dietary transition from non-avian dinosaurs to birds", year = "2020", journal = "BMC Evolutionary Biology", abstract = "Different lines of evidence all suggest a large reduction in biting force affecting the evolution of teeth in the dinosaur-bird transition. Changes in teeth microstructure and associated dietary shift may have contributed to the early evolutionary success of stemward birds in the shadow of other non-avian theropods.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-020-01611-w", doi = "10.1186/s12862-020-01611-w", openalex = "W3016872961", references = "doi101016jcub201803042, doi101016jpalaeo201803006, doi101080027246342012719176, doi101111j1469185x201000142x, doi107717peerj4129" } @article{doi101016jpalaeo2021110657, author = "Yu, Zhiqiang and Wang, Min and Li, Youjuan and Deng, Chenglong and He, Huaiyu", title = "New geochronological constraints for the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation in Jianchang Basin, NE China, and their implications for the late Jehol Biota", year = "2021", journal = "Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology", abstract = "The Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation in western Liaoning Province, northeastern China contains important vertebrate fossils of the late Jehol Biota, e.g., the four-winged non-avian dinosaur Microraptor. This formation documents the late phase of the Jehol Biota, producing the most abundant fossil records of the Mesozoic birds. However, the precise age constraints on the fossiliferous layers of this formation remain scarce and chronological consensus of this formation has not been reached, limiting our understanding of the evolutionary history of the Jehol Biota and its time-spatial distribution. Here we present secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) U-Pb zircon analysis results of four tuff samples interbedded within the Jehol fossil-bearing layers from the Jiufotang Formation outcrops at the Sanmendian and Xiaotaizi sections in the Jianchang Basin, western Liaoning. Stratigraphic correlation between two outcrop sections is achieved by combining lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic, and SIMS U-Pb zircon dating results. One tuff bed SMD17-1 closed to the boundary of the Yixian/Jiufotang formations from the Sanmendian section yielded an age of 122.0 ± 0.9 Ma, and three tuff beds XTZ17-1, XTZ17-2, and XTZ17-3 from the Xiaotaizi section dated to 118.9 ± 0.8 Ma, 118.8 ± 0.6 Ma, and 118.6 ± 1.1 Ma, respectively. These ages suggest that the Jiufotang Formation in Jianchang Basin was deposited at ca. 122.0–118.9 Ma, the latest Barremian–Aptian stage of the Lower Cretaceous and provides stringent constraints on the Mesozoic vertebrates discovered in the Jianchang Basin. Furthermore, the late Jehol Biota documents in the Jiufotang Formation has been placed between \textasciitilde 123 and \textasciitilde 119 Ma based on our new chronology and previous radiometric dates. It is critical to evaluate the evolutionary history of various important Mesozoic taxa discovered from the Jehol Biota and explore the patterns and modes of major vertebrate lineages documented in this interval.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110657", doi = "10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110657", openalex = "W3199825891", references = "doi101093nsrnwu055, doi10166613052" } @article{doi101073pnas2107859118, author = "Zhou, Zhonghe and Meng, Qing‐Ren and Zhu, Rixiang and Wang, Min", title = "Spatiotemporal evolution of the Jehol Biota: Responses to the North China craton destruction in the Early Cretaceous", year = "2021", journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", abstract = "The Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota is a terrestrial lagerstätte that contains exceptionally well-preserved fossils indicating the origin and early evolution of Mesozoic life, such as birds, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, mammals, insects, and flowering plants. New geochronologic studies have further constrained the ages of the fossil-bearing beds, and recent investigations on Early Cretaceous tectonic settings have provided much new information for understanding the spatiotemporal distribution of the biota and dispersal pattern of its members. Notably, the occurrence of the Jehol Biota coincides with the initial and peak stages of the North China craton destruction in the Early Cretaceous, and thus the biotic evolution is related to the North China craton destruction. However, it remains largely unknown how the tectonic activities impacted the development of the Jehol Biota in northeast China and other contemporaneous biotas in neighboring areas in East and Central Asia. It is proposed that the Early Cretaceous rift basins migrated eastward in the northern margin of the North China craton and the Great Xing'an Range, and the migration is regarded to have resulted from eastward retreat of the subducting paleo-Pacific plate. The diachronous development of the rift basins led to the lateral variations of stratigraphic sequences and depositional environments, which in turn influenced the spatiotemporal evolution of the Jehol Biota. This study represents an effort to explore the linkage between terrestrial biota evolution and regional tectonics and how plate tectonics constrained the evolution of a terrestrial biota through various surface geological processes.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2107859118", doi = "10.1073/pnas.2107859118", openalex = "W3194987836", references = "doi101016jpalaeo201803006, doi101093nsrnwu055" } @article{doi101111brv12743, author = "Miller, Case Vincent and Pittman, Michael", title = "The diet of early birds based on modern and fossil evidence and a new framework for its reconstruction", year = "2021", journal = "Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society", abstract = "Birds are some of the most diverse organisms on Earth, with species inhabiting a wide variety of niches across every major biome. As such, birds are vital to our understanding of modern ecosystems. Unfortunately, our understanding of the evolutionary history of modern ecosystems is hampered by knowledge gaps in the origin of modern bird diversity and ecosystem ecology. A crucial part of addressing these shortcomings is improving our understanding of the earliest birds, the non-avian avialans (i.e. non-crown birds), particularly of their diet. The diet of non-avian avialans has been a matter of debate, in large part because of the ambiguous qualitative approaches that have been used to reconstruct it. Here we review methods for determining diet in modern and fossil avians (i.e. crown birds) as well as non-avian theropods, and comment on their usefulness when applied to non-avian avialans. We use this to propose a set of comparable, quantitative approaches to ascertain fossil bird diet and on this basis provide a consensus of what we currently know about fossil bird diet. While no single approach can precisely predict diet in birds, each can exclude some diets and narrow the dietary possibilities. We recommend combining (i) dental microwear, (ii) landmark-based muscular reconstruction, (iii) stable isotope geochemistry, (iv) body mass estimations, (v) traditional and/or geometric morphometric analysis, (vi) lever modelling, and (vii) finite element analysis to reconstruct fossil bird diet accurately. Our review provides specific methodologies to implement each approach and discusses complications future researchers should keep in mind. We note that current forms of assessment of dental mesowear, skull traditional morphometrics, geometric morphometrics, and certain stable isotope systems have yet to be proven effective at discerning fossil bird diet. On this basis we report the current state of knowledge of non-avian avialan diet which remains very incomplete. The ancestral dietary condition in non-avian avialans remains unclear due to scarce data and contradictory evidence in Archaeopteryx. Among early non-avian pygostylians, Confuciusornis has finite element analysis and mechanical advantage evidence pointing to herbivory, whilst Sapeornis only has mechanical advantage evidence indicating granivory, agreeing with fossilised ingested material known for this taxon. The enantiornithine ornithothoracine Shenqiornis has mechanical advantage and pedal morphometric evidence pointing to carnivory. In the hongshanornithid ornithuromorph Hongshanornis only mechanical advantage evidence indicates granivory, but this agrees with evidence of gastrolith ingestion in this taxon. Mechanical advantage and ingested fish support carnivory in the songlingornithid ornithuromorph Yanornis. Due to the sparsity of robust dietary assignments, no clear trends in non-avian avialan dietary evolution have yet emerged. Dietary diversity seems to increase through time, but this is a preservational bias associated with a predominance of data from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Lagerstätte. With this new framework and our synthesis of the current knowledge of non-avian avialan diet, we expect dietary knowledge and evolutionary trends to become much clearer in the coming years, especially as fossils from other locations and climates are found. This will allow for a deeper and more robust understanding of the role birds played in Mesozoic ecosystems and how this developed into their pivotal role in modern ecosystems.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12743", doi = "10.1111/brv.12743", openalex = "W3080110636", references = "doi101002ar24241, doi101016jcretres2019104312, doi101016jcub201803042, doi101016jcub201910050, doi101038s4146701909259x, doi101080027246342013762708, doi101080027246342013794814, doi101098rsos140350, doi101111pala12270, doi101371journalpone0126791, doi10159023174889201500020001, doi107717peerj5831" } @article{doi101126sciadvabg7099, author = "Torres, Christopher R. and Norell, Mark A. and Clarke, Julia A.", title = "Bird neurocranial and body mass evolution across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction: The avian brain shape left other dinosaurs behind", year = "2021", journal = "Science Advances", abstract = "exhibited a wulst and segmented palate, previously proposed to have arisen within extant birds. The origin of Aves is marked by larger, reshaped brains indicating selection for relatively large telencephala and eyes but not by uniquely small body size. Sensory system differences, potentially linked to these shifts, may help explain avian survivorship relative to other dinosaurs.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg7099", doi = "10.1126/sciadv.abg7099", openalex = "W3186419283", references = "doi101016jcub201804062, doi101098rsos170975, doi101111j155856461951tb02756x, doi101371journalpone0082000, doi10166613052" } @article{doi101139cjes20200174, author = "Holtz, Thomas R.", title = "Theropod guild structure and the tyrannosaurid niche assimilation hypothesis: implications for predatory dinosaur macroecology and ontogeny in later Late Cretaceous Asiamerica 1", year = "2021", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "Well-sampled dinosaur communities from the Jurassic through the early Late Cretaceous show greater taxonomic diversity among larger (>50 kg) theropod taxa than communities of the Campano-Maastrichtian, particularly to those of eastern/central Asia and Laramidia. The large carnivore guilds in Asiamerican assemblages are monopolized by tyrannosaurids, with adult medium-sized (50–500 kg) predators rare or absent. In contrast, various clades of theropods are found to occupy these body sizes in earlier faunas, including early tyrannosauroids. Assemblages with “missing middle-sized” predators are not found to have correspondingly sparser diversity of potential prey species recorded in these same faunas. The “missing middle-sized” niches in the theropod guilds of Late Cretaceous Laramidia and Asia may have been assimilated by juvenile and subadults of tyrannosaurid species, functionally distinct from their adult ecomorphologies. It is speculated that if tyrannosaurids assimilated the niches previously occupied by mid-sized theropod predators, we would expect the evolution of distinct transitions in morphology and possibly the delay of the achievement of somatic maturity in species of this taxon.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2020-0174", doi = "10.1139/cjes-2020-0174", openalex = "W3168560974", references = "doi101016jcub201803042, doi101017pab201519, doi101017s0094837300011891, doi10103846266, doi101038nature02699, doi101038ncomms3827, doi101038s4155901908880, doi101038s41598019517095, doi101038srep20252, doi101073pnas1600140113, doi101093nsrnwu055, doi101098rspb20202258, doi101111brv12638, doi101111j1469185x201000137x, doi101111j15023931200900187x, doi101126sciadvaax6250, doi101126science1065522, doi101126science1161833, doi101126science28454232137, doi101139cjes20120185, doi101139cjes20170031, doi101139cjes20190019, doi101371journalpone0054329, doi101371journalpone0188426, doi1017161paleo180818764, doi1023071942327, doi1023072411924, doi1029920070860302, doi103897zookeys92847517, doi107717peerj9192, openalexw2183707334, openalexw2971401580" } @article{doi101038s4158602205445y, author = "Benito, Juan and Kuo, Pei‐Chen and Widrig, Klara E. and Jagt, John W.M. and Field, Daniel J.", title = "Cretaceous ornithurine supports a neognathous crown bird ancestor", year = "2022", journal = "Nature", abstract = ".", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05445-y", doi = "10.1038/s41586-022-05445-y", openalex = "W4310483852", references = "doi101080027246342013762708, doi101098rsos170975, doi1012060003009044011" } @article{doi101038s42003022043166, author = "Wang, Renfei and Hu, Dongyu and Zhang, Meisheng and Wang, Shiying and Zhao, Qi and Sullivan, Corwin and Xu, Xing", title = "A new confuciusornithid bird with a secondary epiphyseal ossification reveals phylogenetic changes in confuciusornithid flight mode.", year = "2022", journal = "Communications biology", abstract = "The confuciusornithids are the earliest known beaked birds, and constitute the only species-rich clade of Early Cretaceous pygostylian birds that existed prior to the cladogenesis of Ornithothoraces. Here, we report a new confuciusornithid species from the Lower Cretaceous of western Liaoning, northeastern China. Compared to other confuciusornithids, this new species and the recently reported Yangavis confucii both show evidence of stronger flight capability, although the wings of the two taxa differ from one another in many respects. Our aerodynamic analyses under phylogeny indicate that varying modes of flight adaptation emerged across the diversity of confuciusornithids, and to a lesser degree over the course of their ontogeny, and specifically suggest that both a trend towards improved flight capability and a change in flight strategy occurred in confuciusornithid evolution. The new confuciusornithid differs most saliently from other Mesozoic birds in having an extra cushion-like bone in the first digit of the wing, a highly unusual feature that may have helped to meet the functional demands of flight at a stage when skeletal growth was still incomplete. The new find strikingly exemplifies the morphological, developmental and functional diversity of the first beaked birds.", url = "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9772404/", doi = "10.1038/s42003-022-04316-6", openalex = "W4312061382", pmcid = "PMC9772404", pmid = "36543908", references = "doi101002jmor10013, doi101038nature07447, doi101111cla12160, doi101111j14697580200600534x, doi101126science1252243, doi101139e03011, doi1012060003009020042860001mptaso20co2, doi101371journalpone0007390, doi101525california97805202735280030004, doi102992014590582006371pon20co2" } @article{doi101073pnas2205476119, author = "Pittman, Michael and Kaye, Thomas G. and Wang, Xiaoli and Zheng, Xiaoting and Dececchi, T. Alexander and Hartman, Scott", title = "Preserved soft anatomy confirms shoulder-powered upstroke of early theropod flyers, reveals enhanced early pygostylian upstroke, and explains early sternum loss", year = "2022", journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", abstract = "-like upstroke. Both factors are supported by a slender ventral body profile. These data validate the ancestral shoulder/chest flight system and provide insights into novel upstroke-enhanced flight strokes and early sternum loss, filling important gaps in our understanding of the appearance of modern flight.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2205476119", doi = "10.1073/pnas.2205476119", openalex = "W4308964372", references = "doi101016jcub202111060, doi107554elife76086" } @misc{doi10110120220713499923, author = "Wang, Min and Stidham, Thomas A. and O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "Insight into the evolutionary assemblage of cranial kinesis from a Cretaceous bird", year = "2022", booktitle = "bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)", abstract = "Abstract The independent movements and flexibility of various parts of the skull, called cranial kinesis, is an evolutionary innovation that is found in living vertebrates only in some squamates and crown birds, and considered to be a major factor underpinning much of the enormous phenotypic and ecological diversity of living birds, the most diverse group of extant amniotes. Compared to the postcranium, our understanding of the evolutionary assemblage of the characteristic modern bird skull has been hampered by sparse fossil records of early cranial materials, with competing hypotheses regarding the evolutionary development of cranial kinesis among early members of the avialans. Here, a detailed three-dimensional reconstruction of the skull of the Early Cretaceous enantiornithine Yuanchuavis kompsosoura allows for its in depth description, including elements that are poorly known among early diverging avialans but are central to deciphering the mosaic assembly of features required for modern avian cranial kinesis. Our reconstruction of the skull shows evolutionary and functional conservation of the temporal and palatal regions by retaining the ancestral theropod dinosaurian configuration within the skull of this otherwise derived and volant bird. Geometric morphometric analysis of the palatine suggests that loss of the jugal process represents the first step in the structural modifications of this element leading to the kinetic crown bird condition. The mixture of plesiomorphic temporal and palatal structures together with a derived avialan rostrum and postcranial skeleton encapsulated in Yuanchuavis manifests the key role of evolutionary mosaicism and experimentation in early bird diversification.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.07.13.499923", doi = "10.1101/2022.07.13.499923", openalex = "W4285597292", references = "doi101111joa13588" } @article{doi101111joa13588, author = "Li, Zhiheng and Wang, Min and Stidham, Thomas A and Zhou, Zhonghe and Clarke, Julia", title = "Novel evolution of a hyper-elongated tongue in a Cretaceous enantiornithine from China and the evolution of the hyolingual apparatus and feeding in birds.", year = "2022", journal = "Journal of anatomy", abstract = "The globally distributed extinct clade Enantiornithes comprises the most diverse early radiation of birds in the Mesozoic with species exhibiting a wide range of body sizes, morphologies, and ecologies. The fossil of a new enantiornithine bird, Brevirostruavis macrohyoideus gen. et sp. nov., from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation in Liaoning Province, northeastern China, preserves a few important skeletal features previously unknown among early stem and extant birds, including an extremely elongate bony hyoid element (only slightly shorter than the skull), combined with a short cranial rostrum. The long hyoid provides direct evidence for the evolution of specialized feeding in this extinct species, and appears similar to the highly mobile tongue that is mobilized by the paired epibranchials present in living hummingbirds, honeyeaters, and woodpeckers. The likely linkage between food acquisition and tongue protrusion might have been a key factor in the independent evolution of particularly elongate hyobranchials in early birds.", url = "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8930807/", doi = "10.1111/joa.13588", openalex = "W3215467381", pmcid = "PMC8930807", pmid = "34854094", references = "doi1010292004gl019790, doi101038nature01420, doi101038s4146702020314w, doi101073pnas1011924108, doi101093nsrnwu055, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101111j10960031200900258x, doi101111j14697580200800880x, doi101111joa13588, doi101139e03011, doi1016660022336020030770822mbatho20co2" } @article{doi107554elife76086, author = "Wang, Shiying and Ma, Yubo and Wu, Qian and Wang, Min and Hu, Dongyu and Sullivan, Corwin and Xu, Xing", title = "Digital restoration of the pectoral girdles of two Early Cretaceous birds and implications for early-flight evolution", year = "2022", journal = "eLife", abstract = ", representing a transitional stage in flight apparatus evolution before the appearance of a fully closed bony triosseal canal as in modern birds. Our study reveals additional lineage-specific variations in pectoral girdle anatomy, as well as significant modification of the pectoral girdle along the line to crown birds. These modifications produced diverse pectoral girdle morphologies among Mesozoic birds, which allowed a commensurate range of capability levels and styles to emerge during the early evolution of flight.", url = "https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.76086", doi = "10.7554/elife.76086", openalex = "W4226064306", references = "doi10103845769, doi101038nature01342, doi101038nature02898, doi101038nature03996, doi101038nature08322, doi101038nature10288, doi101080027246342012652321, doi101086407902, doi101126science29054981955, doi1012067481, doi102992014590582006371pon20co2" } @article{doi107554elife81337, author = "Wang, Min and Stidham, Thomas A. and O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "Insight into the evolutionary assemblage of cranial kinesis from a Cretaceous bird", year = "2022", journal = "eLife", abstract = "manifests the key role of evolutionary mosaicism and experimentation in early bird diversification.", url = "https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.81337", doi = "10.7554/elife.81337", openalex = "W4310947376", references = "doi101111joa13588" } @article{doi107717peerj13919, author = "Benito, Juan and Chen, Albert and Wilson, Laura E. and Bhullar, Bhart‐Anjan S. and Burnham, David A. and Field, Daniel J.", title = "Forty new specimens of Ichthyornis provide unprecedented insight into the postcranial morphology of crownward stem group birds", year = "2022", journal = "PeerJ", abstract = "Ichthyornis has long been recognized as a pivotally important fossil taxon for understanding the latest stages of the dinosaur-bird transition, but little significant new postcranial material has been brought to light since initial descriptions of partial skeletons in the 19 th Century. Here, we present new information on the postcranial morphology of Ichthyornis from 40 previously undescribed specimens, providing the most complete morphological assessment of the postcranial skeleton of Ichthyornis to date. The new material includes four partially complete skeletons and numerous well-preserved isolated elements, enabling new anatomical observations such as muscle attachments previously undescribed for Mesozoic euornitheans. Among the elements that were previously unknown or poorly represented for Ichthyornis, the new specimens include an almost-complete axial series, a hypocleideum-bearing furcula, radial carpal bones, fibulae, a complete tarsometatarsus bearing a rudimentary hypotarsus, and one of the first-known nearly complete three-dimensional sterna from a Mesozoic avialan. Several pedal phalanges are preserved, revealing a remarkably enlarged pes presumably related to foot-propelled swimming. Although diagnosable as Ichthyornis, the new specimens exhibit a substantial degree of morphological variation, some of which may relate to ontogenetic changes. Phylogenetic analyses incorporating our new data and employing alternative morphological datasets recover Ichthyornis stemward of Hesperornithes and Iaceornis, in line with some recent hypotheses regarding the topology of the crownward-most portion of the avian stem group, and we establish phylogenetically-defined clade names for relevant avialan subclades to help facilitate consistent discourse in future work. The new information provided by these specimens improves our understanding of morphological evolution among the crownward-most non-neornithine avialans immediately preceding the origin of crown group birds.", url = "https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13919", doi = "10.7717/peerj.13919", openalex = "W4312112859", references = "doi101016jcretres200806007, doi101016jcub202006105, doi101016jpalaeo201803006, doi101038s4146701909259x, doi101073pnas1613813113, doi101111brv12666, doi101139cjes20170031, doi101139cjes20200145, doi1012060003009044011, doi101371journalpone0032623, doi10166613052, doi103389fevo2022828006, doi107717peerj1032, doi107717peerj7247, doi107717peerj9192" } @article{doi101002ar25167, author = "Wu, Qian and Chen, He and Li, Zhiheng and Jiang, Shunxing and Wang, Xiaolin and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "The morphology and histology of the pectoral girdle of Hamipterus (Pterosauria), from the Early Cretaceous of Northwest China", year = "2023", journal = "The Anatomical Record", abstract = "As one of the mysteries volant vertebrates, pterosaurs were completely extinct in the K-Pg extinction event, which hampered our understanding of their flight. Recent studies on pterosaur flight usually use birds as analogies, since their shoulder girdle share many features. However, it was also proposed that these two groups may differ in some critical flight mechanisms, such as the primary muscles for the upstroke of the wings. Here, we describe and characterize the detail features of the pectoral girdle morphology and histology in Hamipterus from the Early Cretaceous of Northwest China for the first time. Our research reveals that the scapula and coracoid of Hamipterus form a synostosis joint, representing a distinct pectoral girdle adaption during pterosaur flight evolution, different from that of birds. The residual of the articular cartilage of the glenoid fossa supports the potential for cartilage tissue preservation in this location. The morphology of the acrocoracoid process of Hamipterus indicates it may work as a pulley for M. supracoracoideus as the main power of flight upstroke resembles that of birds. But the saddle type of the shoulder joint of the pterosaur may limit the rotation of the humerus head, suggesting a particular mechanism to control the angle of attack unlike birds. The presence of both the similarity and differences between the flight apparatus of pterosaurs and birds are highlighted in our research, which may be related to the flight mechanism and forelimb functional adaption. The distinctive feature of the flight apparatus of pterosaur should be treated with caution in future research, to better understand the life of this unique extinct volant vertebrate.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25167", doi = "10.1002/ar.25167", openalex = "W4320709116", references = "doi107554elife76086" } @incollection{doi10100797830311485211, author = "Ritchison, Gary", title = "Origin and Evolution of Birds", year = "2023", booktitle = "Fascinating life sciences", url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14852-1\_1", doi = "10.1007/978-3-031-14852-1\_1", openalex = "W4388445452", references = "doi101017s1464793104006517, doi101038nature11631, doi101038nature15697, doi101038s42003022043166, doi101073pnas0401892101, doi101073pnas071034898, doi101073pnas0811087106, doi101111j14754983200600585x, doi101126science1157704, doi101126science1253451, doi101126science20844481095, doi1016410006356820010510933teotwa20co2, doi107717peerj5831" } @article{doi101016jxinn2023100500, author = "Wu, Yan and Li, Zhiheng and Stidham, Thomas A. and Foong, Swee Yeok", title = "Phytolith evidence reveals the origin of angiosperm leaf eating habits among ancient Cretaceous birds", year = "2023", journal = "The Innovation", abstract = "Recently, Nature Communications published a study on the feeding habits of an ancient extinct bird called Jeholornis from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of China led by researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.1Wu Y. Ge Y. Hu H. et al.Intra-gastric phytoliths provide evidence for folivory in basal avialans of the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota.Nat. Commun. 2023; 14: 4558Crossref PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar Jeholornis and its closely related species are regarded as part of the second most primitive lineage in the family tree of birds, retaining a long bony dinosaurian tail, small teeth, and large claws on the wings. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the scientific team discovered hundreds of phytoliths originated from the leaves of the basal angiosperm group called magnoliids (which includes living magnolias, cinnamon, and avocadoes), while investigating the stomach residues contents of a well-preserved 120-million-year-old juvenile Jeholornis fossil. These fossil phytoliths are the first confirmation that help point to the origin and evolution of leaf eating in ancient birds and further sketch an interesting scientific story about the early interactions between birds and flowering plants (Figure 1). Angiosperms dominate much of the landscape across the terrestrial ecosystems of our planet today, and they play a key role in the maintenance and structuring of biodiversity across different ecological interactions and phylogenetic groups, including humans. Based on the close, mutualistic relationships between living birds and plants (in seed dispersal, pollination and mechanism in nectar consumption, for instance), birds have long been noted on their crucial co-evolutionary role in the origin and early diversification of angiosperms. However, the lack of explicit fossil-based evidence of bird-plant interactions has made it difficult to test and fully support such a hypothesis until recently. The exceptional preservation of fossils in the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota in northeastern China has led to a series of important discoveries pertaining to the evolution of ancient angiosperms and the earliest known diverse bird assemblages. That biota allows for an unparalleled insight into forested Mesozoic ecosystems with its overflowing abundance of spectacularly preserved vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant fossils. To further explore the ecological interrelationships between Cretaceous angiosperms and early birds, our team of researchers pioneered the application of phytolith analysis to study the stomach contents of an ancient herbivorous bird. As one of the earliest lineages of birds, inferences of the feeding habits of Jeholornis are paramount to the overall understanding of the origin of the ecological diversity of birds, as well as helping to deduce the longevity of close and potentially co-evolutionary interactions between birds and flowering plants. Prior work has shown that the closest relatives of birds, the small-sized feathered theropod dinosaurs like troodontids and dromaeosaurs were predators. In contrast, many Early Cretaceous birds were arboreal flying herbivores, pointing to an early change in diets, digestive systems, and ecologies in the evolution of birds, along with the initiation of direct interactions between birds and (flowering) plants. The impact of their plant eating is seen in the evolutionary decrease in the number and size of their teeth and the presence of gastroliths (stones in the stomach or gizzard that could function in plant material grinding), as evidenced by the fossil remains in skeletons. While the presence of gastroliths inside fossils point to a broad herbivorous diet among early birds, details of that dietary menu have been elusive. Some of the best evidence for a plant-based diet in ancient birds comes from other fossil specimens of Jeholornis with seeds preserved in their digestive system. Now, with the addition of leaves to that repertoire of plant dietary items, we can see that the early lineages of birds could obtain and extract nutrients from not only energy rich and easy-to-digest items like fruits and seeds, but also less easily processed items like leaves. Jeholornis also marks the earliest evidence of an arboreal herbivorous niche within the bird family tree, an important and common ecological role that birds occupy around the world today. The identification of specific plants in the diet of Jeholornis required a myriad of analytical and data collection methods. Our scientific team members integrated a comprehensive reconstruction on the early evolution of ancient bird feeding habits with the association of similar feeding habits of extant birds. The approaches include computed tomography (CT) scanning, scanning electron microscopy, and quantitative evaluation through morphometric analysis of the shape of the bird’s mandible. Specifically, our research team attempted to extract the phytolith remains of plants from the residues of the stomach within the fossilized skeleton of Jeholornis to analyze its plant diet. By sampling the area around the preserved gastroliths and processing the samples for phytoliths, hundreds of phytoliths of multiple plant taxa were recovered. Similar samples from outside the fossil skeleton produced no phytoliths. This confirmed the phytoliths were originated from and restricted within the bird’s body. After careful comparison with more than 4,000 kinds of modern phytoliths representing much of plant diversity derived from comprehensive databases and collections of phytoliths, we concluded that most of the identifiable fossil phytoliths from the stomach come from the leaves of the angiosperm group (clade) called magnoliids. While these magnoliid phytoliths not only document additional plant diversity within the Jehol biota and represent some of the oldest fossils of the magnoliid clade, they also represent the first identification of a specific plant type within the diet of an early bird. Besides magnoliid, Jeholornis consumed a variety of other arboreal plant parts, and this discovery likely marks the initiation of what is now widespread herbivory diet among birds. To further support the hypothesis of leaf eating and a broader herbivorous diet in Jeholornis, the three-dimensional mandible shape was compared across different ecological groups of living birds and Jeholornis using a morphometric analysis on CT-scanned lower jaws. The analytical results placed the lower jaw of Jeholornis as most similar to those of living birds that eat mostly plants, particularly the living leaf specialist, the hoatzin, found in tropical forests in South America. That independent line of comparative evidence concurs with the results of the phytolith analysis and helps to strengthen the hypotheses related to the diet and habits of this extinct bird. Most important, the application of phytolith analysis within a fossil Mesozoic vertebrate skeleton has unlocked a key aspect of paleobiological study that has been addressed previously through largely indirect means. Furthermore, the achievement of this interdisciplinary and collaborative research project has not only provided direct evidence for the specific diet of an early bird, but also helps to build a new framework for further expanding the study of the long-term co-evolutionary interplay not only between birds and flowering plants, but also wider linkages among vertebrates, plants, and their environment. With this discovery, it is easy to envision that the evolutionary origins of commonplace activities today, like birds deriving nutrition from plant materials and obtaining some of their bright sexually selected feather colors from those dietary items, and plants having their flowers pollinated and seeds dispersed by birds, are part of an unbroken association spanning the last 120 million years. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42288201, Craton destruction and terrestrial life evolution) and NSFC 41877427 and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Science (No. XDB26000000), the National Key R\&D Program of China (2022YFF0801500). We thank Xu Yong for producing the attractive artistic reconstruction of the new specimen. The authors declare no competing interests.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2023.100500", doi = "10.1016/j.xinn.2023.100500", openalex = "W4385856306", references = "doi101038s4146702340311z" } @article{doi101038s4146702340311z, author = "Wu, Yan and Ge, Yong and Hu, Han and Stidham, Thomas A and Li, Zhiheng and Bailleul, Alida M and Zhou, Zhonghe", title = "Intra-gastric phytoliths provide evidence for folivory in basal avialans of the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota.", year = "2023", journal = "Nature communications", abstract = "Angiosperms became the dominant plant group in early to middle Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems, coincident with the timing of the earliest pulse of bird diversification. While living birds and angiosperms exhibit strong interactions across pollination/nectivory, seed dispersal/frugivory, and folivory, documentation of the evolutionary origins and construction of that ecological complexity remains scarce in the Mesozoic. Through the first study of preserved in situ dietary derived phytoliths in a nearly complete skeleton of the early diverging avialan clade Jeholornithidae, we provide direct dietary evidence that Jeholornis consumed leaves likely from the magnoliid angiosperm clade, and these results lend further support for early ecological connections among the earliest birds and angiosperms. The broad diet of the early diverging avialan Jeholornis including at least fruits and leaves marks a clear transition in the early evolution of birds in the establishment of an arboreal (angiosperm) herbivore niche in the Early Cretaceous occupied largely by birds today. Morphometric reanalysis of the lower jaw of Jeholornis further supports a generalized morphology shared with other herbivorous birds, including an extant avian folivore, the hoatzin.", url = "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10382595/", doi = "10.1038/s41467-023-40311-z", openalex = "W4385349855", pmcid = "PMC10382595", pmid = "37507397", references = "doi101016s0034666799000184, doi101017cbo9780511980206, doi101038nature01420, doi101038s4147701904210, doi101093aobmcz064, doi1011112041210x12035, doi101111nph17822, doi101126science1069439, doi101126science1118806, doi101126science28253941692" } @article{doi107203sjp27543, author = "Chiappe, Luis M. and Serrano, Francisco J. and Abramowicz, Stephanie and Göhlich, Ursula B.", title = "Flight Performance of the Early Cretaceous Bird Confuciusornis sanctus: Evidence from an Exceptionally Preserved Fossil", year = "2023", journal = "Spanish Journal of Palaeontology", abstract = "The Chinese early Cretaceous Confuciusornis sanctus is the most abundant Mesozoic bird and a model species for studies of early avian evolution. While previous investigations were largely focused on aspects of the anatomy, taxonomy and systematics, and life history and ecology of this bird, there has been minimal research on its flight properties. Our study centers on a well-preserved specimen with exquisite details of its plumage. NHMW 1997z0112/0001 affords novel information on aspects of its skeletal morphology, particularly from the axial and appendicular skeletons, and its plumage provides the opportunity to quantify key flight-related variables including, wingtip, wing chord, body mass, wingspan, and wing area. We use these parameters to provide a quantitative assessment of the flight properties of C. sanctus. Most previous studies have suggested that this species was unable to achieve prolonged flights. However, our results indicate that the capacity for this bird to perform prolonged flights cannot be discarded, given that our data shows it might have been able to combine periods of flapping with periods of efficient low-speed gliding. Specifically, our results indicate that while having slightly less capacity than modern gliding birds, the gliding capacity of C. sanctus would have been significantly higher than that of modern short-term fliers such as land fowl. On the basis of these inferences, we conclude that C. sanctus could fly efficiently for prolonged periods of time when used a combination of flapping and gliding periods.", url = "https://doi.org/10.7203/sjp.27543", doi = "10.7203/sjp.27543", openalex = "W4388226859", references = "doi101038s42003022043166" } @article{doi101016jcretres2024106014, author = "Wang, Xuri and Cau, Andrea and Wang, Yinuo and Kundrát, Martin and Zhang, Guili and Liu, Yichuan and Chiappe, Luis M.", title = "A new gansuid bird (Avialae, Euornithes) from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) Jiufotang Formation of Jianchang, western Liaoning, China", year = "2024", journal = "Cretaceous Research", abstract = "The study of the Cretaceous birds closest to the living euornithine species has mainly focused on the evolutionary patterns leading to the modern group. Yet, the morphological and ecological diversity of the euornithine branches not directly ancestral to the crown-group is probably underestimated. A new euornithine bird, Shuilingornis angelai gen. et sp. nov., is erected based on a nearly complete skeletal material from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Jehol Biota in western Liaoning, China. The new taxon is similar to the penecontemporary gansuids, yet it differs in the smaller body size and in the retention of plesiomorphic features widespread among non-gansuid euornithines. The osteohistological analysis indicates that Shuilingornis gen. nov. represents an early adult stage at the time of death. The phylogenetic analysis robustly supports the referral of Shuilingornis gen. nov. to Gansuidae. Except for the controversial Hollanda, the gansuids have been uncovered from four Aptian basins deposited under similar paleoclimatic conditions. Gansuid success in the middle part of the Cretaceous demonstrates that the exploration of semi-aquatic ecologies was a consistent euornithine pattern which preceded the later ornithurine radiation.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2024.106014", doi = "10.1016/j.cretres.2024.106014", openalex = "W4402787766", references = "doi101038s4146702340311z" } @article{doi101038s41586024081144, author = "Chiappe, Luis M. and Navalón, Guillermo and Martinelli, Agustín G. and de Souza Carvalho, Ismar and Santucci, Rodrigo and Wu, Yun-Hsin and Field, Daniel J.", title = "Cretaceous bird from Brazil informs the evolution of the avian skull and brain", year = "2024", journal = "Nature", abstract = ". Navaornis provides long-sought insight into the detailed cranial and endocranial morphology of stem birds phylogenetically crownward of Archaeopteryx, clarifying the pattern and timing by which the distinctive neuroanatomy of living birds was assembled.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08114-4", doi = "10.1038/s41586-024-08114-4", openalex = "W4404305447", references = "doi101007s0011401411439, doi101080027246342012719176, doi101098rsos220519, doi101111cla12524, doi10159023174889201500020001" } @article{doi1010800891296320242364337, author = "Wu, Qian and Zhou, Zhonghe and Li, Zhiheng", title = "A secondary endochondral ossification centre in the furcula of extant birds and its significance for the evolution of the neornithine acrocoracoclavicular joint", year = "2024", journal = "Historical Biology", abstract = "The processus acrocoracoideus claviculae on the furcular epicleidium of some extant birds has been hypothesised to have developed independently from the main body of furcula, potentially representing a secondary ossification centre within avian furcula. However, the developmental pattern of the processus acrocoracoideus claviculae remains unclear, impeding our understanding of its homology and evolution. Here, we analysed the morphology, articulation and developmental pattern of the avian furcular epicleidium through X-ray computed tomography scanning and histochemical staining in several bird exemplars. The results show that the processus acrocoracoideus claviculae is a secondary endochondral ossification in the furcula, distinct from the intramembranously ossified main furcula and separated by connective tissue. The processus acrocoracoideus claviculae fuses with the furcula during postnatal development and forms the articular surface of the acrocoracoclavicular joint. The developmental pattern suggests that the left and right processus acrocoracoideus claviculae may be formed by the fusion of a sesamoid with the respective furcular ramus and evolved convergently among different neornithine lineages. This unique structure of furcula not only increases the morphological diversity of the acrocoracoclavicular joint in neornithine birds but also lays the foundation for their complex and diverse flight styles.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2024.2364337", doi = "10.1080/08912963.2024.2364337", openalex = "W4399927280", references = "doi107717peerj16960" } @article{doi101144sp5442023129, author = "Zhou, Zhonghe and Wang, Min", title = "Cretaceous fossil birds from China", year = "2024", journal = "Geological Society London Special Publications", abstract = "Abstract The explosive radiation of early birds has been well documented by the extraordinary discoveries of the Early Cretaceous fossil birds in China in the past three decades. They have greatly expanded the diversity, disparity and temporal distribution of Mesozoic birds, refining our knowledge of the evolutionary path leading to the characteristic avian body plan, including feathers and powered flight, locomotion and habitat differentiation, diet and digestion, reproduction and development, feather colours and display. In addition, studies on the geological background of the Jehol Biota that produced the majority of the Chinese Cretaceous birds have provided important clues to our understanding of the taphonomy as well as the interaction between deep geological process and biological evolution in northeastern China and East Asia during the Early Cretaceous. Future multidisciplinary studies are expected to advance our knowledge of the palaeogeography of Early Cretaceous birds, what impacted the changes in the diversity of early birds in China, and the roles that early birds played in the Early Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystem.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1144/sp544-2023-129", doi = "10.1144/sp544-2023-129", openalex = "W4390976843", references = "doi101111joa13588" } @article{doi1046770as2024033, author = "Ji, Qiang and Wang, Xuri", title = "Micro-XRF Mapping Elucidates the Taphonomy of Two Early Cretaceous Paravian Fossils from Western Liaoning, China", year = "2024", journal = "Atomic Spectroscopy", abstract = "Paraves is the taxonomic group that includes Dromaeosauridae, Troodontidae and Avialae, and thus records the origin of birds, the evolution of pennaceous feathers, and their exaptation for flight.Non-destructive micro-X-ray fluorescence (micro-XRF) imaging technology was utilized to analyze two paravian fossil specimens, one referrable to the Microraptorinae (Dromaeosauridae) and the other to the Yanornithidae (Avialae).Both fossils are from the Lower Cretaceous Aptian Jiufotang Formation, a Lagerstätte that records the youngest stage of the famous Jehol Biota in western Liaoning, China.The analyses show that the bones preserve high amounts of Calcium (Ca), Phosphorus (P), and Sulfur (S), with significant amounts of heavy elements such as Strontium (Sr) and Yttrium (Y) which may be related to biological apatite.The preserved feathers show high amounts of Cuprum (Cu), Nickel (Ni) and Titanium (Ti).The claw sheaths exhibit high levels of P and Ca, which suggests they were preserved through phosphatization.Notably, large amounts of Ferrum (Fe) occur at the intraskeletal joints in both specimens and in the trunk of the microraptorine.Further analyses indicate that the enrichment of Fe may be related to the presence of pyrite.The distribution of Fe indicates precipitation of this element was a postburial taphonomic process.This micro-XRF data reveals the distribution of elements in different tissue types in these two paravian fossils and provides information for reconstructing the taphonomic processes responsible for exceptional preservation in paravian fossils in the Jiufotang Formation.", url = "https://doi.org/10.46770/as.2024.033", doi = "10.46770/as.2024.033", openalex = "W4399924137", references = "doi101038s4146702340311z" } @article{doi101038s41559025027954, author = "Lowi-Merri, Talia M and Benson, Roger and Hu, Han and O'Connor, Jingmai and Claramunt, Santiago and Evans, David C", title = "Enlargement of sternum traits facilitated the evolution of powered flight in birds.", year = "2025", journal = "Nature ecology \& evolution", abstract = "An enlarged sternum with a prominent keel is a central feature of the flight apparatus of modern birds. However, sterna of near-bird dinosaurs (Pennaraptora) and early avialans are either substantially different from those of living birds or absent altogether, raising questions about how specialized sternal structures evolved in birds and how they are related to function. This remains poorly understood because of the fragmentary nature of the fossil record, and the challenges in inferring form and function from crushed fossils. We use ancestral character estimations to trace sternal trait acquisition through the bird stem group, and multivariate phylogenetic regressions to analyse relationships between sternum morphology, body mass and flight capabilities. We find that sternum evolution was episodic: basal members of Pennaraptora had proportionally small sterna, which became larger and more craniocaudally elongated in Avialae. This enlargement precedes the appearance of a midline ridge, a possible precursor of the sternal keel, in Pygostylia. Sternum size increased again in crownward Ornithuromorpha, alongside a fully formed sternal keel and enlarged caudal projections, both critical areas of flight muscle attachment. Sternal experimentation in relation to flight characteristics occurs several times throughout Pennaraptora, including within Paraves and Enantiornithes, indicating that powered flight may have evolved several times before proliferating in crown-group birds.", url = "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/5548695/", doi = "10.1038/s41559-025-02795-4", openalex = "W4412640183", pmcid = "5548695", pmid = "40707813", references = "doi101038nature11631, doi101038nature15697, doi101038nmeth2089, doi10108003610927808827599, doi101080106351501753462876, doi101086284325, doi101098rstb19890106, doi101109tac19741100705, doi101111j2041210x201100169x, doi10118614712105788" } @article{doi101093iobobaf029, author = "Chen, Albert and Steell, Elizabeth M. and Benson, Roger and Field, Daniel J.", title = "Toward a Comprehensive Anatomical Matrix for Crown Birds: Phylogenetic Insights from the Pectoral Girdle and Forelimb Skeleton", year = "2025", journal = "Integrative Organismal Biology", abstract = "Phylogenetic analyses of phenotypic characters in crown-group birds often recover results that are strongly incongruous with the findings of recent phylogenomic analyses. Furthermore, existing morphological datasets for crown birds are frequently limited by restricted taxon or character sampling, inconsistent character construction, incorrect scoring, or a combination of several of these factors. As part of an effort to address these limitations, in this study we focus on identifying phylogenetically informative characters of the avian pectoral girdle and forelimb skeleton, elements of which are commonly preserved as avian fossils. We assembled and vetted a dataset of 203 characters, which were then scored for a phylogenetically diverse range of 75 extant avian taxa and incorporated into phylogenetic analyses. Analyses run without topological constraints exhibited notable conflicts with the results of recent phylogenomic studies, possibly due to functional convergence and rapid cladogenesis in the early evolutionary history of crown birds. Qualitative anatomical comparisons and quantitative metrics of homoplasy further highlighted the fact that similar morphologies in pectoral girdle and forelimb elements have evolved repeatedly in distantly related groups of birds, representing a major confounding factor in avian morphological phylogenetics. However, the implementation of molecular scaffolds allowed the identification of diagnostic character combinations for numerous avian clades previously only recognized through molecular data, such as Phaethontimorphae, Aequornithes, and Telluraves. Although large morphological datasets may not guarantee increased congruence with molecular phylogenetic studies, they can nonetheless be valuable tools for identifying anatomical synapomorphies of key clades, placing fossils into phylogenetic context, and studying macroevolutionary patterns within major groups of organisms.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1093/iob/obaf029", doi = "10.1093/iob/obaf029", openalex = "W4412628626", references = "doi101038s41586025092323, doi101126scienceadt5189, doi107554elife76086, doi107717peerj16960" } @article{doi101093zoolinneanzlaf149, author = "Duan, Menghan and Li, Li and Wang, Shiying and Stidham, Thomas A. and Wang, Renfei and Dong, Xinwei and Hu, Dongyu", title = "Morphology of the forelimb of Confuciusornis and its implications for early flight evolution", year = "2025", journal = "Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society", abstract = "Abstract The morphological transformation of a highly mobile, grasping forelimb into a flapping wing is a key transition in the evolution of bird flight. This evolutionary transformation is characterized by more canalized (restricted) elbow and wrist mobility and a diminished prehensile (grasping) ability of the digits, requiring a suite of osteological modifications. Here, we employ micro-computed tomographic (μCT) imaging to reconstruct the forelimbs of Confuciusornis based on a new specimen from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group in western Liaoning, China. Our rendering is the first three-dimensional reconstruction of the forelimb for this key Early Cretaceous bird, revealing critical osteological details that advance our understanding of early flight evolution. The reconstruction reveals previously unrecognized features including canalized structures in the elbow and wrist joints, a relatively smaller triangular pisiform, a hook-like projection on the alular metacarpal, and distinctive digital morphology. We provide detailed morphological descriptions of the elbow, wrist, and metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints, which are essential for evaluating flight capabilities, forelimb folding mechanics, and manual grasping ability. Furthermore, our data support the presence of a cushion-like bone at the distal end of the alular metacarpal of Confuciusornis and demonstrate fusion of this cushion-like bone with the cranial condyle.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf149", doi = "10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf149", openalex = "W4416294577", references = "doi101016jxinn2025101086, doi10103835047056, doi10103845769, doi101038nature00930, doi101038nature08322, doi101038s41586025092323, doi101038s42003022043166, doi101111j10963642200600245x, doi101111j14697580200800880x, doi101126science1078237, doi101139e03011, doi1012060003009020042860001mptaso20co2, sereno1997the" } @article{doi101098rsbl20240500, author = "Field, Daniel J. and Burton, Maria Grace and Benito, Juan and Plateau, Olivia and Navalón, Guillermo", title = "Whence the birds: 200 years of dinosaurs, avian antecedents", year = "2025", journal = "Biology Letters", abstract = "Among the most revolutionary insights emerging from 200 years of research on dinosaurs is that the clade Dinosauria is represented by approximately 11 000 living species of birds. Although the origin of birds among dinosaurs has been reviewed extensively, recent years have witnessed tremendous progress in our understanding of the deep evolutionary origins of numerous distinctive avian anatomical systems. These advances have been enabled by exciting new fossil discoveries, leading to an ever-expanding phylogenetic framework with which to pinpoint the origins of characteristic avian features. The present review focuses on four notable avian systems whose Mesozoic evolutionary history has been greatly clarified by recent discoveries: brain, kinetic palate, pectoral girdle and postcranial skeletal pneumaticity.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0500", doi = "10.1098/rsbl.2024.0500", openalex = "W4406641140", references = "doi103389fevo2022828006, doi107554elife76086, doi107717peerj16960" } @article{doi101098rstb20230426, author = "O’Connor, Jingmai K.", title = "Insights into the early evolution of modern avian physiology from fossilized soft tissues from the Mesozoic", year = "2025", journal = "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences", abstract = ", with its nearly modern wings but plesiomorphic skeleton, demonstrated more than 160 years ago that soft tissue specializations preceded skeletal modifications for flight. Soft tissues are thus of great importance for understanding the early evolution of modern avian physiology. Most commonly, traces of the integumentary system are preserved; exceptional discoveries include remnants of organs. Together, these have helped to elucidate the evolution of the lungs, ovaries, plumage and beak in early diverging birds. These fossils reveal that many important adaptations for efficient digestion, high oxygen intake, reduced body mass and improved wing structure, all of which serve to improve aerial capabilities and/or meet the energetic demands of this costly form of locomotion, evolved within the first 20-30 Myr of avian evolution. Soft tissue preservation also provides important clues for understanding the ecology of early diverging birds and may even elucidate the extinction of certain groups. However, the current fossil record of Mesozoic avian soft tissues is almost entirely limited to the Early Cretaceous and thus, discoveries from the Late Cretaceous have the potential to drastically transform our interpretation of the available data.This article is part of the theme issue 'The biology of the avian respiratory system'.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2023.0426", doi = "10.1098/rstb.2023.0426", openalex = "W4407947322", references = "doi107717peerj16960" } @misc{doi10110120250117633553, author = "Chen, Albert and Steell, Elizabeth M. and Benson, Roger and Field, Daniel J.", title = "Towards a comprehensive anatomical matrix for crown birds: phylogenetic insights from the pectoral girdle and forelimb skeleton", year = "2025", booktitle = "bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)", abstract = "Abstract Phylogenetic analyses of phenotypic characters in crown-group birds often recover results that are strongly incongruous with the findings of recent phylogenomic analyses. Furthermore, existing morphological datasets for crown birds are frequently limited by restricted taxon or character sampling, inconsistent character construction, incorrect scoring, or a combination of several of these factors. As part of an effort to address these limitations, in this study we focus on identifying phylogenetically informative characters of the avian pectoral girdle and forelimb skeleton, elements of which are commonly preserved as avian fossils. We assembled and vetted a dataset of 204 characters, which were then scored for a phylogenetically diverse range of 75 extant avian taxa and incorporated into phylogenetic analyses. Analyses run without topological constraints exhibited notable conflicts with the results of recent phylogenomic studies, possibly due to functional convergence and rapid cladogenesis in the early evolutionary history of crown birds. Qualitative anatomical comparisons and quantitative metrics of homoplasy further highlighted the fact that similar morphologies in pectoral girdle and forelimb elements have evolved repeatedly in distantly related groups of birds, representing a major confounding factor in avian morphological phylogenetics. However, the implementation of molecular scaffolds allowed identification of diagnostic character combinations for numerous avian clades previously only recognized through molecular data, such as Phaethontimorphae, Aequornithes, and Telluraves. Although large morphological datasets may not guarantee increased congruence with molecular phylogenetic studies, they can nonetheless be valuable tools for identifying anatomical synapomorphies of key clades, placing fossils into phylogenetic context, and studying macroevolutionary patterns within major groups of organisms.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.17.633553", doi = "10.1101/2025.01.17.633553", openalex = "W4406710206", references = "doi107717peerj16960" } @article{doi101111jse13152, author = "Zhang, Xinwen and Liu, Jia and Spicer, Robert A. and Gao, Yi and Yao, Xuan‐Rong and Qin, Xing‐Yuan and Zhou, Zhe‐Kun and Su, Tao", title = "Vegetation history of the central Tibetan region during the late Oligocene–Early Miocene", year = "2025", journal = "Journal of Systematics and Evolution", abstract = "Abstract Understanding the Cenozoic vegetation history of what is now the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau is crucial for elucidating the co‐evolutionary dynamics between plateau development, its environment, and the organisms it hosts. In this study, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of phytoliths within the late Oligocene–Early Miocene lacustrine sedimentary section of the Lunpola Basin, central Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. The diverse phytolith morphotype assemblages indicate that the vegetation of the central Tibetan region mainly comprised a mixed coniferous and broad‐leaved forest. Grasses in the understory primarily consisted of Pooideae, distinguished by phytolith morphotypes such as rondel, crenate and Stipa ‐type bilobate forms. Combined with previous work, we infer that riparian vegetation of the central Tibetan region transitioned from a humid subtropical forest, dominated by broad‐leaved woody plants during the middle Eocene, to a more seasonally arid open woodland containing abundant woody and herbaceous plants during the late Eocene, before developing into a cooler mixed coniferous and broad‐leaved forest during the late Oligocene–Early Miocene. The growth of the central Tibetan region and retreat of the Tethys Ocean, together with the uplift of the Himalaya, contributed to this vegetation change. This study provides new evidence from the phytolith perspective for the evolutionary history of Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau vegetation being tied to plateau formation and regional climate change.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.13152", doi = "10.1111/jse.13152", openalex = "W4406229169", references = "doi101038s4146702340311z" } @article{doi101186s1286202502454z, author = "Lo Coco, Gastón E and Motta, Matías J and Agnolín, Federico L and Novas, Fernando E", title = "Reconstruction of pectoral musculature in non-avialan paravians and basal birds: implications in the acquisition of flapping flight.", year = "2025", journal = "BMC ecology and evolution", abstract = "Several studies analyzed the origin of flapping birds, but only a few of them explored the scapular girdle myology in early birds and non-avian paravians. We analyze the pectoral girdle morphology in different groups of non-ornithothoracine paravians with the aim to hypothesize the anchorage sites of selected pectoral muscles and determine their main functions in forelimb movements. Notably, the pectoral girdle remained morphologically stable among non-ornithothoracine paravians since certain aspects of the coracoid and scapula are similar in non-flying taxa, such as the cursorial Buitreraptor, as well as those with the ability to fly, such as the four-winged Microraptor, the long-tailed Archaeopteryx and the pygostylians Confuciusornis and Sapeornis. The distinctions among these taxa are slightly discernible in bone morphology, but they are obvious in the forelimbs feather coverage. In this sense, main pectoral muscles (i.e., mm. supracoracoideus, pectoralis and deltoideus scapularis/major) had similar origin and insertion places, and their inferred functions were similar across a wide array of body shapes of early paravians. The most significant muscular changes occurred in the common ancestor of Pygostylia, and consisted in the displacement of the origin of the mm. biceps brachii and coracobrachialis p. cranialis, accompanying the greater development of the acrocoracoid process and the loss of the subglenoid fossa. These modifications allowed more muscles to participate in humeral protraction and in the maintenance of wing extension. Subsequently, in the Ornithothoraces node, coracoid transformations contributed to the medial reorientation of the supracoracoidal canal thus allowing the m. supracoracoideus to fulfill a wing elevation function. Our study suggests that in non-ornithothoracine paravians, the main movements of the forelimb (either fliers or not) were predominantly craniodorsal to caudoventral. The humeral movements were performed in a similar manner, in which the main elevators were the mm. deltoideus and latissimus dorsi group, while the mm. supracoracoideus and pectoralis would have acted as protractor and depressor, respectively. Therefore, the ability to maintain a continuous flapping flight present in extant volant birds may have been acquired at the Ornithothoraces node, while Archaeopterygidae, Confuciusornithidae and Omnivoropterygidae may have had functional flight, short in duration and space displacement.", url = "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12548140/", doi = "10.1186/s12862-025-02454-z", openalex = "W4415467005", pmcid = "PMC12548140", pmid = "41131457", references = "doi101002ara10097, doi101016jcub201508003, doi101038nature02855, doi101038nature08322, doi101038nature12059, doi101038nature24679, doi101038s41559025027954, doi101086407902, doi101126science1078237, doi101126science1253293, doi1012067481" }