A bizarre Jurassic maniraptoran from China with elongate ribbon-like feathers

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 455; no. 7216; pp. 1105 - 1108
• Main Authors: Zhang, Fucheng, Zhou, Zhonghe, Xu, Xing, Wang, Xiaolin, Sullivan, Corwin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 23.10.2008; Nature Publishing; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Animals; Birds; China; Dinosaurs - anatomy & histology; Dinosaurs - classification; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Feathers - anatomy & histology; Fossils; Genetic aspects; History, Ancient; Humanities and Social Sciences; Jurassic; letter; multidisciplinary; Paleontology; Phylogeny; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Slabs; Theropoda; Vertebrate paleontology; Inner Mongolia China; Far East; Asia; China; Mesozoic; Diapsida; Upper Jurassic; Chordata; morphology; Archosauria; description; ornamentation; Middle Jurassic; Saurischia; Jurassic; Vertebrata; discoveries; feathers; new taxa; Theropoda; phylogeny; Reptilia; Phanerozoic; Aves; Tetrapoda
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/nature07447

Theropod evolution: a trick of the tail feathers Here's another chapter in the transition from non-avian theropods to birds — the discovery of a bizarre pigeon-sized feathered dinosaur from the Mid-Late Jurassic of China. Living a little before Archaeopteryx , this creature is birdlike in many ways including the presence of four very long ribbon-like tail feathers and a short tail. But there is no sign of the flight feathers of the kind seen on the limbs of birdlike dinosaurs such as Microraptor . In today's birds, elongated tail feathers are usually ornamental, and that could be the case here. This new fossil adds yet more complexity to the early history of evolution from dinosaurs to birds. This paper presents another chapter in the earliest history of birds, with the discovery of a feathered dinosaur from the Mid to Late Jurassic of China. Living a little earlier than the famous fossil bird Archaeopteryx , the newly discovered creature is birdlike in many ways including the presence of four very long tail feathers, but otherwise no sign of flight feathers of the kind seen in birdlike dinosaurs such as Microraptor . Recent coelurosaurian discoveries have greatly enriched our knowledge of the transition from dinosaurs to birds, but all reported taxa close to this transition are from relatively well known coelurosaurian groups 1 , 2 , 3 . Here we report a new basal avialan, Epidexipteryx hui gen. et sp. nov., from the Middle to Late Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China. This new species is characterized by an unexpected combination of characters seen in several different theropod groups, particularly the Oviraptorosauria. Phylogenetic analysis shows it to be the sister taxon to Epidendrosaurus 4 , 5 , forming a new clade at the base of Avialae 6 . Epidexipteryx also possesses two pairs of elongate ribbon-like tail feathers, and its limbs lack contour feathers for flight. This finding shows that a member of the avialan lineage experimented with integumentary ornamentation as early as the Middle to Late Jurassic, and provides further evidence relating to this aspect of the transition from non-avian theropods to birds.