Early diversification of birds: Evidence from a new opposite bird

Zhang, Fucheng; Zhou, Zhonghe; Hou, Lianping; Gu, Gang

doi:10.1007/bf02900473

Cited by 114 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…As a result, early birds in the Jehol Biota had differentiated signifi-cantly not only in morphology and size but also in diet. For instance, the enantiornithine Longipteryx was believed to be piscivorous (32), which distinguishes it from most other enantiornithines that were probably mainly insectivorous. Another enantiornithine with specialized diet is Longirostravis, which probably had a probing feeding adaptation (15).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discovery of an ornithurine bird and its implication for Early Cretaceous avian radiation

Zhou

Zhang

2005

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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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 Cretaceous͞Tertiary 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.evolutionary radiation ͉ fossil bird ͉ Inner Mongolia ͉ beak

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discovery of an ornithurine bird and its implication for Early Cretaceous avian radiation

Zhou

Zhang

2005

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Most paleontological workers are most comfortable with the traditional Owenian terminology as evidenced by its continued dominance in, or mixture with, standardized terminology in recent papers. Oddly, even in situations where the NAA should apply, such as descriptions of basal, and even some derived, fossil avians, this continues to be true (Sereno, 2000;Zhang et al, 2001;Chatterjee, 2002). In scope, however, the switch is no different than either the original change in the late 1800s-early 1900s from numerous regional anatomical nomenclatural systems to a single in-ternational one (ICVGAN, 1994).…”

Section: Solutions and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Confusing dinosaurs with mammals: Tetrapod phylogenetics and anatomical terminology in the world of homology

Harris

2004

Anat. Rec.

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At present, three different systems of anatomical nomenclature are available to researchers describing new tetrapod taxa: a nonstandardized traditional system erected in part by Sir Richard Owen and subsequently elaborated by Alfred Romer; a standardized system created for avians, the Nomina Anatomica Avium (NAA); and a standardized system for extant (crown-group) mammals, the Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria (NAV). Conserved homologous structures widely distributed within the Tetrapoda are often granted different names in each system. The recent shift toward a phylogenetic system based on homology requires a concomitant shift toward a single nomenclatural system also based on both evolutionary and functional morphological homology. Standardized terms employed in the NAA and NAV should be perpetuated as far as possible basally in their respective phylogenies. Thus, NAA terms apply to nonavian archosaurs (or even all diapsids) and NAV terms apply to noncrowngroup mammals and more basal synapsids. Taxa equally distant from both avians and crown-group mammals may maintain the traditional nonstandardized terminology until a universal anatomical nomenclature for all tetrapods is constructed.

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“…12 housed at the Geological Museum of Beijing, China; GMV 2159-juvenile enantiornithine indet. 12 GMV 2156/NIGP-130723-juvenile enantiornithine, former holotype of Liaoxiornis delicatus and Lingyuanornis parvus, respectively 12,28,29 (the latter is housed at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Nanjing, China); IVPP V12552-subadult Longipteryx chaoyangensis 30 ; DNHM D2522-holotype of Rapaxavis pani, subadult 31,32 (Fig. 2d) housed at the Dalian Natural History Museum, Dalian, China; and LH 2814 -holotype of Concornis lacustris, housed at the Museo de las Ciencias de Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca, Spain 33 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insight into the early evolution of the avian sternum from juvenile enantiornithines

et al. 2012

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The sternum is one of the most important and characteristic skeletal elements in living birds, highly adapted for flight and showing a diverse range of morphologies. new exceptional material of young juvenile specimens from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group in northeastern China reveals the unique sequence of development in the sternum of Enantiornithes, the dominant clade of Cretaceous birds. We recognize six ossifications that together form the sternum, three of which were previously unknown. Here we show that although basal living birds apparently have retained the dinosaurian condition in which the sternum develops from a bilateral pair of ossifications (present in paravian dinosaurs and basal birds), the enantiornithine sternal body primarily develops from two unilateral proximo-distally arranged ossifications. This indicates that although superficially similar, the sternum formed very differently in enantiornithines and ornithuromorphs, suggesting that several ornithothoracine sternal features may represent parallelism. This highlights the importance of ontogenetic studies for understanding homology and the evolution of skeletal features in palaeontology.

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Early diversification of birds: Evidence from a new opposite bird

Cited by 114 publications

References 6 publications

Discovery of an ornithurine bird and its implication for Early Cretaceous avian radiation

Discovery of an ornithurine bird and its implication for Early Cretaceous avian radiation

Confusing dinosaurs with mammals: Tetrapod phylogenetics and anatomical terminology in the world of homology

Insight into the early evolution of the avian sternum from juvenile enantiornithines

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