Paravian Phylogeny and the Dinosaur-Bird Transition: An Overview [PDF]
Frontiers in Earth Science, 2019 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 the taxonomic composition
Federico L. Agnolin +10 more
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The predatory ecology of Deinonychus and the origin of flapping in birds. [PDF]
PLoS ONE, 2011 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.
Denver W Fowler +3 more
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A non-archaeopterygid avialan theropod from the Late Jurassic of southern Germany. [PDF]
Elife, 2019 The Late Jurassic 'Solnhofen Limestones' are famous for their exceptionally preserved fossils, including the urvogel Archaeopteryx, which has played a pivotal role in the discussion of bird origins.
Rauhut OW, Tischlinger H, Foth C.
europepmc +5 more sources
High rates of evolution preceded the origin of birds. [PDF]
Evolution, 2014 The origin of birds (Aves) is one of the great evolutionary transitions. Fossils show that many unique morphological features of modern birds, such as feathers, reduction in body size, and the semilunate carpal, long preceded the origin of clade Aves ...
Puttick MN, Thomas GH, Benton MJ.
europepmc +3 more sources
Morphological disparity and structural performance of the dromaeosaurid skull informs ecology and evolutionary history [PDF]
BMC Ecology and EvolutionNon-avialan theropod dinosaurs had diverse ecologies and varied skull morphologies. Previous studies of theropod cranial morphology mostly focused on higher-level taxa or characteristics associated with herbivory.
Yuen Ting Tse +2 more
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New Dromaeosaurids (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the lower cretaceous of Utah, and the evolution of the Dromaeosaurid tail. [PDF]
PLoS One, 2012 Background: The Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation (Early Cretaceous, Barremian? – Aptian) of Utah has yielded a rich theropod fauna, including the coelurosaur Nedcolbertia justinhofmanni, the therizinosauroid Falcarius utahensis, the ...
Senter P +4 more
europepmc +6 more sources
The phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaur bondoc (Dinosauria, Maniraptora): dromaeosaurid or flightless bird? [PDF]
PeerJ, 2015 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 ...
Andrea Cau, Tom Brougham, Darren Naish
doaj +3 more sources
Mosaic evolution in an asymmetrically feathered troodontid dinosaur with transitional features. [PDF]
Nat Commun, 2017 Asymmetrical feathers have been associated with flight capability but are also found in species that do not fly, and their appearance was a major event in feather evolution.
Xu X +7 more
europepmc +4 more sources
A bizarre Cretaceous theropod dinosaur from Patagonia and the evolution of Gondwanan dromaeosaurids. [PDF]
Proc Biol Sci, 2009 Fossils of a predatory dinosaur provide novel information about the evolution of unenlagiines, a poorly known group of dromaeosaurid theropods from Gondwana.
Novas FE +4 more
europepmc +3 more sources
Concatabominations: identifying unstable taxa in morphological phylogenetics using a heuristic extension to safe taxonomic reduction. [PDF]
Syst Biol, 2015 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution ...
Siu-Ting K +3 more
europepmc +6 more sources