Ornithuromorph Discovery Reveals Details Of Avian Evolution

Thursday, March 25, 2010 - 13:30 in Paleontology & Archaeology

Paleontologists have discovered a new bird fossil in northeast China that provides more evidence for a specialized group of small birds that diversified during the Early Cretaceous between about 130 and 120 million years ago. The discovery also suggests that scientists have only tapped a small proportion of the birds and dinosaurs that were living at that time. The new bird, named “Longicrusavis houi,” belongs to a group of birds known as ornithuromorphs (Ornithuromorpha), which are rare in rocks of this age. Ornithuromorphs are more closely related to modern birds than are most of the other birds from the Jehol Biota. read more

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