Cretaceous bird with dinosaur skull sheds light on avian evolution

[Eldorado]

The transformation of the bird skull from an ancestral akinetic, heavy, and toothed dinosaurian morphology to a highly derived, lightweight, edentulous, and kinetic skull is an innovation as significant as powered flight and feathers.

Our understanding of evolutionary assembly of the modern form and function of avian cranium has been impeded by the rarity of early bird fossils with well-preserved skulls. Here, we describe a new enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous of China that preserves a nearly complete skull including the palatal elements, exposing the components of cranial kinesis.

Our three-dimensional reconstruction of the entire enantiornithine skull demonstrates that this bird has an akinetic skull indicated by the unexpected retention of the plesiomorphic dinosaurian palate and diapsid temporal configurations, capped with a derived avialan rostrum and cranial roof, highlighting the highly modular and mosaic evolution of the avialan skull.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24147-z

[Abramelin]

I'll have to torture my dictionary to understand this post, jesus.

[Eldorado]

56 minutes ago, Abramelin said:

I'll have to torture my dictionary to understand this post, jesus.

Ancient Bird Skull has Similar Features with a T.Rex, Unearthed in China

A team of researchers has unearthed a 120-million-year-old partial fossil of a tiny ancient bird that has preserved skills of a mix of dinosaurian and bird features in China.

The 2-centimeter long skull of the fossilized ancient bird discovered by researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinse Academy of Sciences shares numerous functional and structural features with the apex predator, the Tyrannosaurus rex.

This indicates that ancient birds have kept numerous features from their dinosaurian ancestors with skulls that function more like dinosaurs than the living birds of today.

Science Times

[Abramelin]

Ok,  a Tiny Rex.

Edited June 25, 2021 by Abramelin