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Avialan
Avialae ("bird wings") is a clade containing the only living dinosaurs, the birds, and their closest relatives. It is usually defined as all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds (Aves) than to deinonychosaurs, though alternative definitions are occasionally used (see below). ''Archaeopteryx lithographica'', from the late Jurassic Period Solnhofen Formation of Germany, is usually considered the earliest known avialan which may have had the capability of powered flight; a minority of studies have suggested that it might have been a deinonychosaur instead. Several older (but non flight-capable) possible avialans are known from the late Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of China, dated to about 160 million years ago. Definition Most researchers define Avialae as branch-based clade, though definitions vary. Many authors have used a definition similar to "all theropods closer to birds than to ''Deinonychus''."Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight Bird skeleton, skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 Order (biology), orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have Bird wing, wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the Flightless bird, loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemism, endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeholornis Prima
''Jeholornis'' (meaning "Jehol bird") is a genus of avialan dinosaurs that lived between approximately 122 and 120 million years ago during the early Cretaceous Period in China. Fossil ''Jeholornis'' were first discovered in the Jiufotang Formation in Hebei Province, China (in what was previously Rehe Province, also known as Jehol—hence the name) and additional specimens have been found in the older Yixian Formation. ''Jeholornis'' had long tails and few small teeth, and were approximately the size of turkeys,Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2008) ''Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages'Supplementary Information/ref> making them among the largest avialans known until the Late Cretaceous. Their diet included seeds of cycads, ''Ginkgo'' or similar plants. Description ''Jeholornis'' were relatively large, basal avialans, with a maximum adult length of up to 75 cm (2.5 ft) and an estimated weight of 2.27-9.1 kg (5-20 lbs). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anchiornithidae
Anchiornithidae is a family of small Paraves, paravian dinosaurs. Anchiornithids have been classified at varying positions in the paravian tree, with some scientists classifying them as a distinct family, a basal subfamily of Troodontidae, members of Archaeopterygidae, or an assemblage of dinosaurs that are an evolutionary grade within Avialae or Paraves. Description Anchiornithids share many general features with other paravians, including early avialans. They were small and lightly-built feathered carnivores, similar in biology to ''Archaeopteryx'', early Dromaeosauridae, dromaeosaurids like ''Microraptor'', and particularly troodontids. They are almost exclusively known from Late Jurassic Chinese deposits, although ''Ostromia'' was discovered in Germany and ''Yixianosaurus'' (a putative member of the group only known from forelimbs) is believed to hail from the early Cretaceous. Most had long legs, arms, and hands, although some (''Eosinopteryx'') had slightly reduced foreli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balaur Bondoc
''Balaur bondoc'' is a species of paravian theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period, in what is now Romania. It is the type species of the monotypic genus ''Balaur'', after the '' balaur'' (), a dragon of Romanian folklore. The specific name ''bondoc'' () means "stocky", so ''Balaur bondoc'' means "stocky dragon" in Romanian. This name refers to the greater musculature that ''Balaur'' had compared to its relatives. The genus, which was first described by scientists in August 2010, is known from two partial skeletons (including the type specimen). Some researchers suggest that the taxon might represent a junior synonym of '' Elopteryx''. Fossils of ''Balaur'' were found in the Densuș-Ciula and Sebeș Formations of Cretaceous Romania which correspond to Hațeg Island, a subtropical island in the European archipelago of the Tethys sea approximately 70 million years ago. Hațeg Island is commonly referred to as the "Island of the Dwarf Dinosaurs" on account of the extens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archaeopteryx
''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird'') is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (''archaîos''), meaning "ancient", and (''ptéryx''), meaning "feather" or "wing". Between the late 19th century and the early 21st century, ''Archaeopteryx'' was generally accepted by palaeontologists and popular reference books as the oldest known bird (member of the group Avialae). Older potential avialans have since been identified, including ''Anchiornis'', ''Xiaotingia'', '' Aurornis'', and '' Baminornis''. ''Archaeopteryx'' lived in the Late Jurassic around 150 million years ago, in what is now southern Germany, during a time when Europe was an archipelago of islands in a shallow warm tropical sea, much closer to the equator than it is now. Similar in size to a Eurasian magpie, with the largest individuals possibly attaining the size of a raven, the largest species of ''Archaeopteryx'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baminornis
''Baminornis'' (meaning "Fujian Province bird") is an extinct genus of basal avialans from the Late Jurassic (Tithonian age) Nanyuan Formation of China. The genus contains a single species, ''B. zhenghensis'', known from a partial skeleton. ''Baminornis'' is the oldest known avialan to bear a fused pygostyle. Discovery and naming The ''Baminornis'' holotype specimen, IVPP V33259, was discovered in outcrops of the Nanyuan Formation ('layer 2') near Yangyuan Village of Zhenghe County in Fujian Province, China. The specimen is incomplete and partially articulated, comprising bones of the left forelimb, and hindlimb, partial left pectoral and pelvic girdles, dorsal and caudal vertebrae, the pygostyle, and several ribs and gastralia. In 2025, Chen et al. described ''Baminornis zhenghensis'' as a new genus and species of early birds based on these fossil remains. The generic name, ''Baminornis'', combines ''Bamin''—the Mandarin word for Fujian Province—with the Greek wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yandangornis
''Yandangornis'' is a genus of theropods (possibly avialans) from the Late Cretaceous Tangshang Formation of China. It lived 81.5 million years ago in what is now China. The type species, ''Y. longicaudus'', was formally described by Cai and Zhou in 1999. Discovery and naming The holotype specimen is a mostly complete skeleton in the collection of the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History, with accession number M1326. The fossil was discovered in 1986, near Linhai City in Zhejiang Province, China. It includes most of one complete skeleton. The genus was named after the Yandang mountains. Description The specimen is small, roughly the size of ''Archaeopteryx'', with a total length around , of which 30.5 centimeters (1 foot) is tail. It is preserved in a seated position and visible from the ventral aspect. After ''Archaeopteryx'', ''Yandangornis'' was the second genus of primitive bird found preserving a long, bony tail, and this trait was responsible for the specific name ''long ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jixiangornis
''Jixiangornis'' is a genus of basal avialan dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous. Like later avialans, it had no teeth, but it also had a long tail, unlike modern birds. Since teeth were still present in some more derived short-tailed avialans, ''Jixiangornis'' seems to have evolved its toothlessness independently of modern birds. The long forelimb (131% of hindlimb length) indicates at least some aerial ability. ''Jixiangornis'' is currently known only from a single specimen, a complete but juvenile skeleton. The fossil was found in the Yixian Formation near Beipiao City, western Liaoning, China. Classification The only known species, ''J. orientalis'' ("Oriental bird from the Yixian Formation"), was described in November 2002. Ji ''et al.'' (2002) considered ''Jixiangornis'' capable of stronger flight than either ''Archaeopteryx'' or ''Jeholornis''. Their phylogenetic tree shows ''Jixiangornis'' forming a clade (called "Euavialae" by Ji ''et al.'') with birds that excludes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rahonavis
''Rahonavis'' is a genus of bird-like theropod from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian, from about 72.1 to 66 mya) of what is now northwestern Madagascar. It is known from a partial skeleton ( UA 8656) found by Catherine Forster and colleagues in Maevarano Formation rocks at a quarry near Berivotra, Mahajanga Province.Tudge, Colin (2009) ''The Bird:A Natural History of Who Birds Are, Where They Came From, and How They Live'/ref> ''Rahonavis'' was a small predator, at about long and 0.45-2.27 kg (1-5 lbs),Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2008) ''Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages'Supplementary Information/ref> with the typical Dromaeosauridae, dromaesaurid-like raised sickle claw on the second toe. It was originally the first African coelurosaur until the discovery of ''Nqwebasaurus'' in 2000. The name ''Rahonavis'' means, approximately, "cloud menace bird", from Malagasy ' (RA-hoo-na, "cloud" or "menace") + Latin ' "bird". The specifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overoraptor
''Overoraptor'' (, meaning "piebald thief") is an extinct genus of paravian theropod of uncertain affinities from the Late Cretaceous Huincul Formation of Argentinian Patagonia. The genus contains a single species, ''O. chimentoi'', known from several bones of the hands, feet, and hips alongside some vertebrae. Discovery and naming The fossil specimens of ''Overoraptor'' were unearthed by Dr. Roberto Nicolás Chimento in the Violante Farm locality, which is southeast of the Ezequiel Ramos-Mexía lake, in the northwestern portion of Rio Negro Province, Argentina. This outcrop is part of the Huincul Formation, which is dated to the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary in the Cretaceous period. This formation has yielded some of the largest South American dinosaurs including the massive sauropod ''Argentinosaurus'' and the theropod '' Mapusaurus''. The precise date of the discovery of the type series of ''Overoraptor'' is not publicly known, but the specimens were reposited in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pygostylia
Pygostylia is a group of avialans which includes the Confuciusornithidae and all of the more advanced species, the Ornithothoraces. Definition The group Pygostylia was intended to encompass all avialans with a short, stubby tail, as opposed to the longer, unfused tails of more primitive species like ''Archaeopteryx lithographica''. It was named by Sankar Chatterjee in 1997.Chatterjee, S. 1997. ''The Rise of Birds.'' Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 312 pp. Luis Chiappe later defined Pygostylia as a node-based clade, "the common ancestor of the Confuciusornithidae and Neornithes plus all its descendants". In 2001, Jacques Gauthier and Kevin de Queiroz recommended that Chatterjee's original apomorphy-based clade concept be used instead of Chiappe's node-based definition,Gauthier, J., & De Queiroz, K. (2001). Feathered dinosaurs, flying dinosaurs, crown dinosaurs, and the name" Aves. ''New perspectives on the origin and early evolution of birds'', 7-41. but this reco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fukuipteryx
''Fukuipteryx'' is an extinct genus of basal avialan dinosaurs found in Early Cretaceous deposits from Japan's Kitadani Formation. It contains one species, ''Fukuipteryx prima''.Imai, T., Azuma, Y., Kawabe, S., Shibata, M., Miyata, K., Wang, M., & Zhou, Z. (2019)An unusual bird (Theropoda, Avialae) from the Early Cretaceous of Japan suggests complex evolutionary history of basal birds Communications Biology, 2(1). doi: 10.1038/s42003-019-0639-4 Discovery and naming In 2013, the first associated skeleton of an Early Cretaceous avialan from Japan was collected at the Kitadani Dinosaur Quarry in Katsuyama, Fukui, central Japan. The specimen is three-dimensionally preserved, and exhibits several autapomorphies, which led to the creation of a new taxon. In 2019, the type species ''Fukuipteryx prima'' was named and described by Takuya Imai, Yoichi Azuma, Soichiro Kawabe, Masateru Shibata, Kazunori Miyata, Wang Min and Zhou Zhonghe. The genus name combines a reference to Fukui with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
