A new avialan theropod from an emerging Jurassic terrestrial fauna

Liming Xu, Min Wang (), Runsheng Chen, Liping Dong, Min Lin, Xing Xu, Jianrong Tang, Hailu You, Guowu Zhou, Linchang Wang, Wenxing He, Yujuan Li, Chi Zhang and Zhonghe Zhou
Additional contact information
Liming Xu: Fujian Institute of Geological Survey
Min Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Runsheng Chen: Fujian Institute of Geological Survey
Liping Dong: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Min Lin: Fujian Institute of Geological Survey
Xing Xu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jianrong Tang: Fujian Institute of Geological Survey
Hailu You: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Guowu Zhou: Fujian Institute of Geological Survey
Linchang Wang: Fujian Institute of Geological Survey
Wenxing He: Fujian Institute of Geological Survey
Yujuan Li: Fujian Institute of Geological Survey
Chi Zhang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhonghe Zhou: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature, 2023, vol. 621, issue 7978, 336-343

Abstract: Abstract Birds are descended from non-avialan theropod dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic period, but the earliest phase of this evolutionary process remains unclear owing to the exceedingly sparse and spatio-temporally restricted fossil record1–5. Information about the early-diverging species along the avialan line is crucial to understand the evolution of the characteristic bird bauplan, and to reconcile phylogenetic controversies over the origin of birds3,4. Here we describe one of the stratigraphically youngest and geographically southernmost Jurassic avialans, Fujianvenator prodigiosus gen. et sp. nov., from the Tithonian age of China. This specimen exhibits an unusual set of morphological features that are shared with other stem avialans, troodontids and dromaeosaurids, showing the effects of evolutionary mosaicism in deep avialan phylogeny. F. prodigiosus is distinct from all other Mesozoic avialan and non-avialan theropods in having a particularly elongated hindlimb, suggestive of a terrestrial or wading lifestyle—in contrast with other early avialans, which exhibit morphological adaptations to arboreal or aerial environments. During our fieldwork in Zhenghe where F. prodigiosus was found, we discovered a diverse assemblage of vertebrates dominated by aquatic and semi-aquatic species, including teleosts, testudines and choristoderes. Using in situ radioisotopic dating and stratigraphic surveys, we were able to date the fossil-containing horizons in this locality—which we name the Zhenghe Fauna—to 148–150 million years ago. The diversity of the Zhenghe Fauna and its precise chronological framework will provide key insights into terrestrial ecosystems of the Late Jurassic.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06513-7 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:621:y:2023:i:7978:d:10.1038_s41586-023-06513-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06513-7

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().