Sunday, August 9, 2015

Primitive Birds

Here is a partial list of primitive (feathered, long-bony-tailed) flying and secondarily flightless birds.

Scansoriopterygids (Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 165–156 Ma)
Anchiornis (Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 161–160.5 Ma)
Aurornis (Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 160 Ma)
Xiaotingia (Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 160 Ma)
Zhongornis (Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 122 Ma)
Oviraptors (secondarily flightless)

Zhenyuanlong?
Archaeopteryx?
Microraptor?
Eosinopteryx? (Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 160 Ma)
Pedopenna? (Temporal range: Middle or Late Jurassic, 164 Ma)
Jeholornis?
Alvarezsaurids?
Ornithomimosaurs?
Velociraptor?
Jixiangornis?

The flying primitive (feathered, long-bony-tailed) birds evolved from pterosaurs.
The secondarily flightless primitive birds evolved from the flying primitive birds. 

1 comment:


  1. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02039.x/

    The 2009 matrix (Fig. 2) reflects the new discoveries of several taxa that bridge gaps between formerly separated clusters. With the addition of the basal tyrannosauroid Guanlong and the basal compsognathidsHuaxiagnathus, a coherent cluster (hereafter called the Tyrannosaur Cluster) is formed by Tyrannosauroidea, Compsognathidae andOrnitholestes. A second cluster, hereafter called the Birdlike Cluster, includes basal birds and the birdlike taxa Dromaeosauridae, Troodontidae, Epidendrosaurus + Epidexipteryx,Protarchaeopteryx + Incisivosaurus and Falcarius. Between the least-separated members of the two clusters (Guanlong in the Tyrannosaur Cluster and Falcarius in the Birdlike Cluster) is a gap of only 0.135, which is smaller than the span of either cluster (0.143 for the Tyrannosaur Cluster, and 0.263 for the Birdlike Cluster). Distances of ≥ 0.200, indicating gaps, continue to isolate Oviraptoridae, Caudipteryx, Shuvuuia [alvarezsaurid], Ornithomimidae and Therizinosauridae from all other taxa.

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