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A long-tailed, seed-eating bird from the Early Cretaceous of China
Abstract
The lacustrine deposits of the Yixian and Jiufotang Formations in the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group in the western Liaoning area of northeast China are well known for preserving feathered dinosaurs, primitive birds and mammals. Here we report a large basal bird, Jeholornis prima gen. et sp. nov., from the Jiufotang Formation. This bird is distinctively different from other known birds of the Early Cretaceous period in retaining a long skeletal tail with unexpected elongated prezygopophyses and chevrons, resembling that of dromaeosaurids, providing a further link between birds and non-avian theropods. Despite its basal position in early avian evolution, the advanced features of the pectoral girdle and the carpal trochlea of the carpometacarpus of Jeholornis indicate the capability of powerful flight. The dozens of beautifully preserved ovules of unknown plant taxa in the stomach represents direct evidence for seed-eating adaptation in birds of the Mesozoic era.
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“The oldest known birds with definitive arboreal adaptations lived approximately125 million years ago [68].”
From Assessing Arboreal Adaptations of Bird Antecedents: Testing the Ecological Setting of the Origin of the Avian Flight Stroke (2011) · cites this paper as [68]
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“Large clusters of gastroliths consistent with their identification as gizzard stones forming a gastric mill have been described in the long boney tailed bird Jeholornis (O’Connor et al., 2018), the basal pygostylian Sapeornis (Zhou and Zhang, 2003; Zheng et al., 2011), and numerous Jehol ornithuromorphs (e.g., Archaeo…”
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“The most striking difference is the presence of an ossified sternum in Jeholornis for insertion of a powerful pectoralis muscle, responsible for wing downstroke as in modern birds.(51,52) Jeholornis is also characterized by the presence of two functional feathered tails: one like that of some modern birds with a fan-s…”
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“…increase in size relative to the femoral length, and gradually shifts from placoid to columnar in shape (Appendix S6; Balanoff & Norell, 2012; Chiappe et al., 1999; Clarke, 2004; Lefèvre et al., 2014; O'Connor et al., 2019; Olson, 1976; Wang et al., 2020; Xu et al., 2003; Zhou & Zhang, 2002).”
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“, 2015; Wang and Zhou, 2017c) and more basal birds (e.g., Chiappe et al., 1999; Zhou and Zhang, 2002a; Zhou and Zhang, 2002b; Wellnhofer, 2009; Wang et al., 2018a).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Zhou, Z., & Zhang, F.
- Affiliations
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Zhou, Zhonghe
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2002-07
- Volume
- 418
- Issue
- 6896
- Pages
- 405-409
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W1983590251
- Cited by
- 274
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 10.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Fossil Insects in Amber
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Keywords
- Jehol Group, Lower Cretaceous, basal birds, Jiufotang Formation, Yixian Formation, avian evolution, shoulder girdle, flight ability, fossil birds
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Physiological, Animals, Birds, China, Diet, Biological Evolution, Fossils, Phylogeny, Seeds, Skeleton
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