Results 11 to 20 of about 289 (155)

Diet of bird‐like troodontid dinosaurs: synthesis of a contentious clade [PDF]

Biological Reviews, Volume 101, Issue 4, Page 1760-1778, August 2026.
ABSTRACT Troodontidae is a clade of small‐to medium‐sized maniraptoran theropods that mainly lived in Laurasia (modern Asia, North America and Europe) during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and are believed to have had a variety of diets. The uniqueness of troodontid teeth suggests that they diverged from the typical flesh‐based diet of non‐avian ...
Yui Chi Fan, Case Vincent Miller, Michael Pittman   +2 more
wiley   +2 more sources

Inner Ear Anatomy of Caenagnathidae (Theropoda: Oviraptorosauria) Emphasizes Mosaic Evolution of the Avian Neurosensory System [PDF]

Journal of Comparative Neurology, Volume 534, Issue 7, July 2026.
The phylogenetic position of oviraptorosaurs close to birds makes them a key group for understanding the acquisition of avian senses. Here, we describe the first inner ear endocasts for caenagnathids, a major subclade of oviraptorosaurs, which demonstrates that labyrinth morphology varied more than expected within oviraptorosaurs.
Kayla D. Bazzana‐Adams, Gregory F. Funston, David C. Evans   +2 more
wiley   +2 more sources

Independent assembly of the flight apparatus in a non-avian dinosaur clade [PDF]

Nature Communications
The discovery of feathered dinosaurs revolutionized the studies on the origin of birds and the evolution of their flight. Among paravians (birds and their closest relatives), the microraptorine dromaeosaurids are unique in bearing several flight-related ...
Xuri Wang, Yannan Ji, Andrea Cau, Martin Kundrát, Yichuan Liu, Yang Wang, Qiang Ji   +6 more
doaj   +2 more sources

The wings before the bird: an evaluation of flapping-based locomotory hypotheses in bird antecedents [PDF]

PeerJ, 2016
Background: Powered flight is implicated as a major driver for the success of birds. Here we examine the effectiveness of three hypothesized pathways for the evolution of the flight stroke, the forelimb motion that powers aerial locomotion, in a ...
T. Alexander Dececchi, Hans C.E. Larsson, Michael B. Habib   +2 more
doaj   +5 more sources

The origin and evolution of air sacs in pterosaurs and their forerunners [PDF]

Journal of Anatomy, Volume 248, Issue 1, Page 94-107, January 2026.
Pneumatized pterosauromorph vertebrae and their phylogenetic context. Abstract Although the existence of postcranial pneumaticity and the inferred presence of air sacs connected to the lungs are well established in Pterosauria, the origin of this system in pterosaurs remains unclear. We investigated skeletal pneumaticity in the Triassic pterosauromorph
Tito Aureliano, Rodrigo T. Müller, Borja Holgado, Leonardo Kerber, Aline M. Ghilardi   +4 more
wiley   +2 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 ...
Thomas, G.H., Benton, M.J., Puttick, M.N., Thomas, Gavin H, Puttick, Mark N, Benton, Michael J   +5 more
core   +2 more sources

Review of the tetrapod skull–neck boundary: implications for the evolution of the atlas–axis complex [PDF]

Biological Reviews, Volume 100, Issue 6, Page 2435-2470, December 2025.
ABSTRACT This review describes variation in modern and fossil occiput–atlas–axis complex anatomy of total group Tetrapoda with the aim of documenting the range of structural variation throughout their evolutionary history to establish grounds for comparison of the complex between tetrapod clades.
Dana E. Korneisel, Hillary C. Maddin
wiley   +2 more sources

Shake a tail feather: the evolution of the theropod tail into a stiff aerodynamic surface. [PDF]

PLoS ONE, 2013
Theropod dinosaurs show striking morphological and functional tail variation; e.g., a long, robust, basal theropod tail used for counterbalance, or a short, modern avian tail used as an aerodynamic surface.
Michael Pittman, Stephen M Gatesy, Paul Upchurch, Anjali Goswami, John R Hutchinson   +4 more
doaj   +2 more sources

Could theropod dinosaurs have evolved to a human level of intelligence?

Journal of Comparative Neurology, Volume 531, Issue 9, Page 975-1006, June 2023., 2023
Images showing models of the theropod dinosaur Troodon formosus and the dinosaur humanoid proposed by Russell and Seguin (1982). Noting that theropod dinosaurs such as troodon had large brains, large grasping hands, and likely binocular vision, Russell and Seguin suggested that a branch of these dinosaurs might have evolved to a human intelligence ...
Anton Reiner
wiley   +1 more source

Machine learning confirms new records of maniraptoran theropods in Middle Jurassic UK microvertebrate faunas

Papers in Palaeontology, Volume 9, Issue 2, March/April 2023., 2023
Abstract Current research suggests that the initial radiation of maniraptoran theropods occurred in the Middle Jurassic, although their fossil record is known almost exclusively from the Cretaceous. However, fossils of Jurassic maniraptorans are scarce, usually consisting solely of isolated teeth, and their identifications are often disputed.
Simon Wills, Charlie J. Underwood, Paul M. Barrett, Philip Mannion   +3 more
wiley   +1 more source