Improved claw morphometrics allow more direct comparisons between extant and extinct birds in order to infer the behaviours of the latter. In contrast to previous studies [2–6], we find that claw curvatures of Mesozoic birds and closely related non-avian theropod dinosaurs, differ significantly ...
However, certain traits – such as sustained, powered flight – distinguished ancient birds from other theropods, and eventually came to define modern-bird lineage (even though not all modern birds fly). Today, all non-avian dinosaurs are long extinct. But are birds still considered to be true...
Sauropsida, meanwhile, has become synonymous with the class "Reptilia," because within its network of clades upon clades, all reptiles — both living and extinct — are contained. Related: If birds are dinosaurs, why aren't they cold-blooded? "All of these guys — snakes and turtles and ...
Modern birds appeared to emerge in a snap of evolutionary time. But new research illuminates the long series of evolutionary changes that made the transformation possible
Casques also occur in pterosaurs and non-avian dinosaurs, but most comparisons between these extinct animals and birds were confined to the casques of cassowaries. The full spectrum of bony cranial outgrowths in birds has not yet been considered and the present survey may serve as a basis ...
The evolutionary tree showing the position of Baminornis zhenghensis, and the morphometric space illustrating the modular evolution of different body parts. Credit: Min Wang Although Archaeopteryx had feathered wings, it closely resembled non-avialan dinosaurs, notably due to its distinc...
Palaeognaths (meaning ‘old jaws’) are the smaller and more ancestral of the two living bird clades and share more morphological features with extinct birds and extinct (non-avian) dinosaurs15,16. Palaeognaths include the flightless ratites (emu,Dromaius novaehollandiae; rhea, GenusRhea; ostrich...
Fig. 1: Hierarchical organization of anatomical networks in extinct and extant theropod dinosaurs. aUPGMAcluster of anatomical network and skull modularity of an adultTyrannosaurus rex(skull reconstruction modified from Carr72) modified after Werneburg et al.11.bUPGMAcluster of anatomical network and sku...
Ask a paleontologist who is familiar with the phylogeny of vertebrates and they will probably tell you that birds (avians) aredinosaurs. Using proper terminology, birds areavian dinosaurs; while other dinosaurs are non-avian dinosaurs, and, strange as it may sound, birds are technically considered...
A series of striking 'feathered dinosaur' fossil discoveries from the Cretaceous Jehol Group sediments of China has revolutionized thinking about the evolution and diversity of dinosaurs and early birds. But it has been suggested that some of the structu