Article Abstract:
Specimen study of a bird from the Lower Cretaceous Konservat-Lagerstatte of Las Hoyas, Spain, shows that 115 million years back, the structural system of the birds allowed them to fly at low speeds and manoeuvre easily. The specimen has the earliest known alula (bastard wing). The crustacean remains in its belly reveal the feeding habits of birds. Its skeletal morphology resembles that of the Enantiornithes. However, its unique sternal morphology and other autopomorphies in the furcula and vertebral centra indicate that it is a new enantiornithine taxon, Eoalulavis hoyasi.
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Article Abstract:
Recent research has revealed that birds may have descended from dinosaurs which sported short tails and were feathered. The Mesozoic era saw these reptilian creatures acquire new characteristics as they both specialized and diversified and adopted new lifestyles. This time period constituted the first 85 years of avian evolution. Despite the new evidence, there is still much that needs to be discovered to firmly establish interrelationships and cause-and-effect findings.
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Article Abstract:
A small new theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period of Schamhaupten in southern Germany is described. A cladistic analysis indicates that the new taxon is closer to maniraptorans than a tyrannosauroids, grouping it with taxa often considered to be compsognathids.
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