Reduced plumage and flight ability of a new Jurassic paravian theropod from China

Godefroit, Pascal; Demuynck, Helena; Dyke, Gareth; Hu, Dongyu; Escuillié, François; Claeys, Philippe

doi:10.1038/ncomms2389

Cited by 124Paleontology and Evolutionary BiologyFossil Insects in AmberEvolution and Paleontology Studies

Reduced plumage and flight ability of a new Jurassic paravian theropod from China

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Godefroit, Pascal, Demuynck, Helena, Dyke, Gareth, Hu, Dongyu, Escuillié, François, Claeys, Philippe·2013·Nature Communications

DOI 10.1038/ncomms2389

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Abstract

Feathered theropods were diverse in the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group of western Liaoning Province, China. Recently, anatomically distinct feathered taxa have been discovered in the older Middle-Late Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation in the same region. Phylogenetic hypotheses including these specimens have challenged the pivotal position of Archaeopteryx in bird phylogeny. Here we report a basal troodontid from the Tiaojishan Formation that resembles Anchiornis, also from Jianchang County (regarded as sister-taxa). The feathers of Eosinopteryx are less extensive on the limbs and tail than Anchiornis and other deinonychosaurians. With reduced plumage and short uncurved pedal claws, Eosinopteryx would have been able to run unimpeded (with large foot remiges cursorial locomotion was likely problematic for Anchiornis). Eosinopteryx increases the known diversity of small-bodied dinosaurs in the Jurassic, shows that taxa with similar body plans could occupy different niches in the same ecosystem and suggests a more complex picture for the origin of flight.

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Longitudinal furrows seem present in manual phalanges of Eosinopteryx but are clearly absent in Xiaotingia.
“such furrows also seem to be present in the manual phalanges of Eosinopteryx [27], but they are clearly absent in Xiaotingia [4].”
From Re-evaluation of the Haarlem Archaeopteryx and the radiation of maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs (2017) · cites this paper as [27]
The tibiotarsus/metatarsus ratio is 1.96 in Eosinopteryx versus 1.67 in Ostromia.
“the only comparable ratio is that between the tibiotarsus and the metatarsus, which is 1.96 in Eosinopteryx, as opposed to 1.67 in Ostromia.”
From Re-evaluation of the Haarlem Archaeopteryx and the radiation of maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs (2017) · cites this paper as [27]
Prior to recent descriptions, no certain pre-Kimmeridgian representatives of maniraptorans were known.
“Prior to the recent description of abundant maniraptoran theropods from the Oxfordian of China ([4, 5, 27, 31, 34, 45, 46, 57, 58]), no certain pre-Kimmeridgian representatives of this clade were known.”
From Re-evaluation of the Haarlem Archaeopteryx and the radiation of maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs (2017) · cites this paper as [27]

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A new Jurassic theropod from China documents a transitional step in the macrostructure of feathers
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Authors: Godefroit, P., Demuynck, H., Dyke, G., Hu, D., Escuillié, F., & Claeys, P.
Affiliations: Jilin University (CN)
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE)
National Oceanography Centre (GB)
Northeast Normal University (CN)
Corresponding author: Godefroit, Pascal
ORCID: Godefroit, Pascal
Dyke, Gareth
Hu, Dongyu
Claeys, Philippe
Venue: Nature Communications
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published: 2013-01-22
Volume: 4
Issue: 1
Pages: 1394-1394
ISSN: 2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2389
OpenAlex: W2137219508
Cited by: 124
References: 27
Citations by year: 2026: 3 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 3
FWCI: 8.84
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: green
www.nature.com
Licence: www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/text-and-data-mining (tdm)
www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/text-and-data-mining (vor)
Locations: Nature Communications (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) (submittedVersion)
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (submittedVersion)
Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China (41172026)
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: feathered dinosaurs, Jurassic, Tiaojishan Formation, troodontids, flight ability, cursorial locomotion, origin of flight, dinosaur-bird transition, Jehol Group
MeSH terms: Animals, Bone and Bones, China, Feathers, Flight, Animal, Fossils, Paleontology, Phylogeny, Time Factors, Dinosaurs

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Reduced plumage and flight ability of a new Jurassic paravian theropod from China

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