Morphology forms the most fundamental level of data in vertebrate palaeontology because it
is through interpretations of morphology that taxa are identified, creating the basis for broad …

Background The origin of birds is one of the most enduring and dramatic evolutionary
debates. The hypothesis that the primarily small-sized birds are nested within a theropod …

" Coyne's knowledge of evolutionary biology is prodigious, his deployment of it as masterful
as his touch is light."-Richard Dawkins In the current debate about creationism and …

Uncertainties in the phylogeny of birds (Avialae) and their closest relatives have impeded
deeper understanding of early theropod flight. To help address this, we produced an …

The early evolution of the major groups of derived non-avialan theropods is still not well
understood, mainly because of their poor fossil record in the Jurassic. A well-known result of …

Coelurosauria is the most diverse clade of theropod dinosaurs. Much of this diversity is
present in Paraves—the clade of dinosaurs containing dromaeosaurids, troodontids, and …

Chemical analyses of the pore waters from hundreds of deep ocean sediment cores have
over decades provided evidence for ongoing processes that require biological catalysis by …

Fossil evidence for changes in dinosaurs near the lineage leading to birds and the origin of
flight has been sparse. A dinosaur from Mongolia represents the basal divergence within …

The recent discovery of small paravian theropod dinosaurs with well-preserved feathers in
the Middle–Late Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of Liaoning Province (northeastern China) …

Abstract Fossils from the “Jehol Biota” have been studied for nearly 90 years, and the term
“Jehol Biota” has been extensively used and is well known today, largely thanks to the …