bird

Baminornis is the oldest known bird with a fused pygostyle, a skeletal feature that implies tail feathers. Its discovery pushed back current understanding of bird evolution and global distribution by 20 million years. Baminornis was about 15 cm in length, had many features in common with modern birds, including the capability for powered flight.

Samrukia nesovi was originally described as a giant bird, but is now considered a pterodactyloid pterosaur of uncertain placement and validity. References: Naish, D., Dyke, G., Cau, A., Escuillié, F., & Godefroit, P. (2011). A gigantic bird from the Upper Cretaceous of Central Asia. Biology Letters, 8(1), 97–100. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0683 Buffetaut, E. (2011). Samrukia nessovi, from the Late Cretaceous of Kazakhstan: A large pterosaur, not a giant bird. Annales de Paléontologie, 97(3–4), 133–138. doi:10.1016/j.annpal.2011.10.001

Fujianvenator is an anchiornithid avialan from the Late Jurassic of China, whose discovery gave important insight to the evolution of birds. It had proportionately long legs, with the tibia twice the length of the femur. This suggests it may have been a strong runner, and possibly had a terrestrial or wading lifestyle. Fujianvenator was a small dinosaur, weighing about 640 g. As an avialan, it was almost certainly covered in feathers, though it does not seem likely to have been capable of flight.

Jian changmaensis (left) attacks the early bird Gansus yumenensis (right) in what is now the Changma Basin of northwestern China approximately 120 million years ago

The "dromaeo-avemorphs", as they are informally known (Paul, 2002), represent a group of early paravian theropods with asymmetrical feathers and an Archaeopteryx-like body. According to Hartman et al. (2019), the animals shown in this image might, together, form a clade (monophyletic group) without modern birds.

Figure 1. Evolution of macroecological traits in Dinosauria. Large scale event in dinosaur evolution (a); the origin of dinosaurs (star), hyperthermals (volcano), the earliest fossil Avialae (bird), the earliest fossil angiosperm (flower), the Cretaceous/Palaeogene mass extinction (asteroid). Phylogeny of dinosaurs (b) redrawn from Sereno and adapted to the current consensus and upon which an ancestral state reconstruction of temperature niche (mean annual temperature) after Chiarenza et al. is plotted; Mesozoic palaeogeographies (c) for Triassic (T), Jurassic (J) and Cretaceous (K). Silhouette colours symbolize body mass for each of the taxa represented; information on dietary habits are plotted after Barrett and Zanno & Makovicky; numbers represent clades discussed through this study: 1, Ornithischia; 2, Thyreophora; 3, Ornithopoda; 4, Hadrosauroidea; 5, Marginocephalia; 6, Ceratopsia; 7, Saurischia; 8, Sauropodomorpha; 9, Sauropoda; 10, Theropoda; 11, Ceratosauria; 12, Tetanurae; 13, Coelurosauria; 14, Maniraptoriformes; 15, Maniraptora; 16, Deinonychosauria; 17, Avialae; 18, Ornithothoraces. Palaeogeographies modified from original plots via R package ‘mapast’ using plate models by Scotese.

Diagram illustrating the "Temporal paradox" in paleontology. First given it's nickname by Alan Feduccia, the paradox is made up by the fact that almost all feathered dinosaurs are dated to have lived millions of years after Archaeopteryx, the oldest bird (late Jurassic, believed to have existed about 150 million years ago). Only a few of the feathered dinosaurs/birdlike dinosaurs are given an older date than Archaeopteryx.

Restoration of Early Jurassic environment preserved at the SGDS, with the theropod Dilophosaurus wetherilli in bird-like resting pose, demonstrating the manufacture of SGDS.18.T1 resting trace.

Diagram made to illustrate the debate over the hands of theropod dinosaurs and their alleged descendants, the birds ( Aves ). In the last years, the difference between the hands of theropods and birds have been an important thing when it comes question the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs, even though some scientists may could refute it. In the diagram, a Neotheropoda ( 1 ), basal tetanurae ( 2 ), a coelurosaurian ( 3 ), the bird (?)Archaeopteryx ( 4 ) and modern bird ( 5 ). In 1997, birdexpert Alan Feduccia at University of North Carolina discovered that birds develop hands with the digits II, III and IV ( see The Cincinnati Enquirer, 25 - 10 - 1997 ). This is in contrast with the hands of tetanurae, which seems to have the digits I, II and III. This make it almost impossible for dinosaurs and birds to be closely related, according to Feduccia. Since the discovery by Feduccia, scientific research have came up with a possible explanation to the mystery of the dinosaur - bird hand difference, called The frame shift hypothesis ( see http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2009/06/limusaurus_is_awesome.php ). This hypothesis is based on a discovery which shows that although bird embryos develop the fingers II, III and IV, the genes which is coding for the external appearance of the digits seems to be from the fingers I, II and III. Based on this, scientists belive this: when neotheropods evolved into tetanurae, the losed digit I ( not digit IV, as earlier suggested ). During this process, the genes which coded for how the digits should looks like ( the number of phalanges, for example ) became refurnished ( see the color spots in th upper section in the diagram to understan ). The discovery of Limusaurus has been said to support this theory ( see https://www.livescience.com/animals/090617-dinosaur-hands.html ). One thing is that may can be used to refute that Limusaurus should support the Frame shift hypothesis is that Limusaurus was a ceratosaurian, and is dated to be much younger than the oldest tetanurae's. Also, some tetanure´s may had 4 digits' like the Archaeornithomimus ( see number 4 in the diagram ) ( see also http://dml.cmnh.org/1998Oct/msg00443.html and the Allosaurus hand in the image here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Allosaurus-mounted.jpg ). If this is the digits I, II, III and IV. If so, it shows that tetanurae had the digits I, II and III, and not II, II and IV, like birds. For more in this debate, see text section to my picture Raptor-Archaeopteryx-bird hands differens.JPG at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raptor-Archaeopteryx-bird_hands_differens.JPG.

The Chicago specimen of Archaeopteryx (PA 830), a well-preserved fossil highlighting the transitional features between non-avian dinosaurs and birds, housed at the Field Museum of Natural History.

This diagram illustrates how scientists believe the dinosaur group theropoda shall be classed in a phylogenetic tree, besides Sauropoda and Pterosauria. The main reason of this diagram is to show groups or families which had respiratory system like birds. AS in the diagram is abbreviations for "Airsacs", and ASW means "AirSacs supported by immobile femur and a knee-driven Walk". BL means "Bellow lungs". Airsacs are known in many different theropods, as well as in birds, which most scientists believe are descendants of dinosaurus. Air sacs are found in the primitive Tawa hallae,[1] the abelisaurid Majungasaurus,[2] as well as Allosauroids like Aerosteon.[3] There is also evidence for respiratory systems like penguinss in Deinonychosaurians.[4] The primitive bird Archaeopteryx also had airsacs (Bonde and Christiansen, 2000). It is very likely that Deinonychosaurians had airsacs. We don't know whether Deinonychosauria had a walking/breathing system with immobile thighbones, ASW (like birds) or movable thighbones. However, some people suggsest coeluosaurs had the same type of leg movement as birds ("kneedriven walking").[5] Bellow lungs are lungs like our own, which alternately is filled with air, and thereafter emptied, after which you take a new breath. This type of lungs exist in mammals, most reptiles, and most amphibians (although some frogs get their oxygen through the skin). There is no evidence for airsacs in Ornithischia, so the likely had bellow lungs. References.= ↑ (see the video at http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/tawa/) ↑ (Claessens & O'connor, 2006). ↑ Alcober O.A, Sereno P.C, Larsson H.C.E et.al (2008), "Evidence for Avian Intrathoracic Air Sacs in a New Predatory Dinosaur from Argentina", Public Library of Science Journals. ↑ http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/20q5Z4/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7081166.stm ↑ http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/G104/lectures/104coelur.html.

Representative taxa from the latest Campanian–Maastrichtian faunas from Transylvania, western Romania. A–B Nidophis insularis (Serpentes, Madtsoiidae), articulated vertebrae (LPB (FGGUB) v.547/2) in left lateral (A) and dorsal (B) views (Densuş-Ciula Formation, Tuştea, Haţeg Basin; photo by Ştefan Vasile) C Allodaposuchus precedens (Eusuchia, ?Hylaeochampsidae), skull (PSMUBB V 438) in dorsal view (Sebeş = Şard Formation, Oarda de Jos, southwestern Transylvanian Basin; photo by Vlad Codrea/Massimo Delfino) D Theriosuchus sympiestodon (Mesoeucrocodylia, Atoposauridae), right maxilla (MCDRD 793) in lateral view (Sînpetru Formation, Sînpetru, Haţeg Basin) E–F Indeterminate titanosaur (?Magyarosaurus dacus) (Sauropoda, Titanosauria), isolated osteoderm (LPB (FGGUB) R.1410) in dorsal (E) and lateral (F) views (Sînpetru Formation, Sînpetru, Haţeg Basin) G Indeterminate ornithuran bird (Aves, Ornithurae), incomplete left tibiotarsus (LPB (FGGUB) R.1902) in anterior view (Densuş-Ciula Formation, Vălioara, Haţeg Basin) H Balaur bondoc (Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae), articulated left distal hindlimb (EME PV.313) in lateral view (Sebeş = Şard Formation, Sebeş-Glod, southewestern Transylvanian Basin; photo by Mick Ellison) I Zalmoxes robustus (Ornithopoda, Rhabdodontidae), right dentary (NHMUK R.3407) in medial view (Sînpetru Formation, Sînpetru, Haţeg Basin) J Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus (Hadrosauria), right maxilla (MFGI unnumbered) in lateral view (Sînpetru Formation, Sînpetru, Haţeg Basin) K Indeterminate nodosaurid – Struthiosaurus transylvanicus or new taxon – (Ankylosauria, Nodosauridae), isolated tooth (LPB (FGGUB) R.2182) in medial view (Sînpetru Formation, Sînpetru, Haţeg Basin) L Barbatodon transylvanicus (Multituberculata, Kogaionidae), right maxilla (LPB (FGGUB) M.1635) in medial view (Sînpetru Formation, Pui, Haţeg Basin). Scale bars equal 1 mm in A, B; 5 mm in K; 1 cm in G, L; 2 cm in D; and 5 cm in C, E, F, H, I, J.

The Naturmuseum Senckenberg in Frankfurt is the second largest museum of natural history in Germany. It is particularly popular with children, who enjoy the extensive collection of dinosaur skeletons: Senckenberg boasts the largest exhibition of large dinosaurs in Europe. One particular treasure is a dinosaur fossil with unique, preserved scaled skin. The museum contains the world's largest and most diverse collection of stuffed birds with about 2000 specimens.

Fossil specimen RTMP 82.19.23 - A lacrimal, postorbitals, squamosals, frontals, parietals, and braincase referred to Latenivenatrix mcmasterae, but formerly assigned to Stenonychosaurus inequalis (=Troodon inequalis). Described by Currie, 1985. "Cranial anatomy of Stenonychosaurus inequalis (Saurischia, Theropoda) and its bearing on the origin of birds." Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 22(1), 643-658. 5d-dinosaur-camp-day2-20120802-15.jpg

Saurexallopus, a four toed dinosaur or bird trace fossil (jr syn Exallopus

Megapnosaurus is a coelophysid theropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Period of Africa. It was a lightly built bipedal carnivore that grew to just over 2 m long and 13 kg in body mass. Its close relation to Coelophysis has caused some confusion in classifying the genus - it had a slender build and curved S-shaped neck, but was more robust. Comparisons between the scleral rings of Megapnosaurus and modern birds and reptiles indicate that it may have been nocturnal.