Early evolution of birds

Nature ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 331 (6155) ◽  
pp. 389-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Cracraft
Keyword(s):  
Early Evolution ◽  
Evolution Of Birds

scholarly journals Glorified Dinosaurs: The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds

The Auk ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 1464-1466
Author(s):  
Peter Houde
Keyword(s):  
Early Evolution ◽  
Subjective Assessments ◽  
Official Policy ◽  
Evolution Of Birds ◽  
The Individual

Abstract The following critiques express the opinions of the individual evaluators regarding the strengths, weaknesses, and value of the books they review. As such, the appraisals are subjective assessments and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or any official policy of the American Ornithologists’ Union.

The origin and early evolution of birds

2007 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
KEVIN PADIAN ◽  
LUIS M. CHIAPPE
Keyword(s):  
Early Evolution ◽  
Evolution Of Birds

scholarly journals Halszkaraptor escuilliei and the evolution of the paravian bauplan

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chase D. Brownstein
Keyword(s):  
Center Of Mass ◽  
Body Plan ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
The Body ◽  
Phylogenetic Position ◽  
Sister Clade ◽  
Environmental Setting ◽  
Evolution Of Birds

Abstract The evolution of birds from dinosaurs is a subject that has received great attention among vertebrate paleontologists. Nevertheless, the early evolution of the paravians, the group that contains birds and their closest non-avian dinosaur relatives, remains very poorly known. Even the most basal members of one paravian lineage, the Dromaeosauridae, already show a body plan that differs substantially from their closest non-paravian relatives. Recently, the dromaeosaurid Halszkaraptor escuilliei was described from the Cretaceous of Mongolia. Halszkaraptor possesses numerous unserrated premaxillary teeth, a platyrostral rostrum with a developed neurovascular system, an elongate neck, bizarrely-proportioned forearms, and a foreword-shifted center of mass, differing markedly from other paravians. A reevaluation of the anatomy, taphonomy, environmental setting, and phylogenetic position of H. escuilliei based on additional comparisons with other maniraptorans suggests that, rather than indicating it was a semiaquatic piscivore, the body plan of this dinosaur bears features widely distributed among maniraptorans and in some cases intermediate between the conditions in dromaeosaurids and related clades. I find no evidence for a semiaquatic lifestyle in Halszkaraptor. A phylogenetic reevaluation of Halszkaraptorinae places it as the sister clade to Unenlagiinae, indicating the bizarre features of unenlagiines previously interpreted as evidence of piscivory may also represent a mosaic of plesiomorphic, derived, and intermediate features. The anatomy of Halszkaraptor reveals that dromaeosaurids still possessed many features found in more basal maniraptoran and coelurosaur clades, including some that may have been tied to herbivory. Rather than being a semiaquatic piscavore, Halszkaraptor was a basal dromaeosaurid showing transitional features.

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