The origin and diversification of birds

SL Brusatte, JK O'Connor, ED Jarvis - Current Biology, 2015 - cell.com
Birds are one of the most recognizable and diverse groups of modern vertebrates. Over the
past two decades, a wealth of new fossil discoveries and phylogenetic and …

An integrative approach to understanding bird origins

X Xu, Z Zhou, R Dudley, S Mackem, CM Chuong… - Science, 2014 - science.org
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 …

[HTML][HTML] Gradual assembly of avian body plan culminated in rapid rates of evolution across the dinosaur-bird transition

SL Brusatte, GT Lloyd, SC Wang, MA Norell - Current Biology, 2014 - cell.com
The evolution of birds from theropod dinosaurs was one of the great evolutionary transitions
in the history of life [1–22]. The macroevolutionary tempo and mode of this transition is …

[HTML][HTML] Potential for powered flight neared by most close avialan relatives, but few crossed its thresholds

R Pei, M Pittman, PA Goloboff, TA Dececchi, MB Habib… - Current Biology, 2020 - cell.com
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 …

Spatiotemporal evolution of the Jehol Biota: Responses to the North China craton destruction in the Early Cretaceous

Z Zhou, Q Meng, R Zhu, M Wang - … of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021 - pnas.org
The Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota is a terrestrial lagerstätte that contains exceptionally well-
preserved fossils indicating the origin and early evolution of Mesozoic life, such as birds …

What have we learned from the first 500 avian genomes?

GA Bravo, CJ Schmitt… - Annual Review of Ecology …, 2021 - annualreviews.org
The increased capacity of DNA sequencing has significantly advanced our understanding of
the phylogeny of birds and the proximate and ultimate mechanisms molding their genomic …

[HTML][HTML] A review of dromaeosaurid systematics and paravian phylogeny

AH Turner, PJ Makovicky, MA Norell - Bulletin of the American museum of …, 2012 - BioOne
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 …

Temperature, metabolic power and the evolution of endothermy

A Clarke, HO Pörtner - Biological Reviews, 2010 - Wiley Online Library
Endothermy has evolved at least twice, in the precursors to modern mammals and birds. The
most widely accepted explanation for the evolution of endothermy has been selection for …

Plumage color patterns of an extinct dinosaur

Q Li, KQ Gao, J Vinther, MD Shawkey, JA Clarke… - science, 2010 - science.org
For as long as dinosaurs have been known to exist, there has been speculation about their
appearance. Fossil feathers can preserve the morphology of color-imparting melanosomes …

The Jehol Biota: definition and distribution of exceptionally preserved relicts of a continental Early Cretaceous ecosystem

Y Pan, J Sha, Z Zhou, FT Fürsich - Cretaceous Research, 2013 - Elsevier
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 …