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Early Adaptive Radiation of Birds: Evidence from Fossils from Northeastern China
1L. Hou, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Post Office Box 643, Beijing 100044, China. L. D. Martin, Natural History Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. Z. Zhou, IVPP, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Post Office Box 643, Beijing 100044, China, and Natural History Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. A. Feduccia, Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA.
Abstract:
Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous birds from northeastern China, including many complete skeletons of Confuciusornis, provide evidence for a fundamental dichotomy in the class Aves that may antedate the temporal occurrence of the Late Jurassic Archaeopteryx. The abundance of Confuciusornis may provide evidence of avian social behavior. Jurassic skeletal remains of an ornithurine bird lend further support to the idea of an early separation of the line that gave rise to modern birds. Chaoyangia, an ornithurine bird from the Early Cretaceous of China, has premaxillary teeth.