Scientists discovered two Jurassic bird fossils in China, pushing back bird diversification by 20 million years. One, ...

The bird has a short tail ending in a pygostyle, an important aerodynamic innovation moving the center of mass forward toward the wings. A 150 million-year-old fossil reveals early bird ...

Wang: A fossil’s age is always later than the species’ actual origin. To estimate evolutionary timelines, scientists construct phylogenetic trees — a “Tree of Life” that maps species’ relationships ...

The study pushes back the appearance of an important avian feature, represented by the pygostyle, by nearly 20 million years. The fossil, discovered in November 2023, was identified as a bird ...

The fossilized bird Baminornis zhenghensis was discovered in Zhenghe County, Fujian Province. Its short tail ends in a compound bone called the pygostyle, a feature uniquely present in modern birds.

These characteristics highlight the role of mosaic evolution in early bird development. Notably, Baminornis zhenghensis has a short tail ending in a compound bone called the pygostyle, a feature ...

Unlike Archaeopteryx, the other Jurassic-era bird known to science, Baminornis had a short, fused pygostyle (tailbone) that made it a better flyer. This implies birds had already developed ...

Researchers believe this discovery offers new insights into bird evolution. The fossil has a short tail ending in a pygostyle, a feature of modern birds. This suggests that modern bird body ...

The fossilized bird Baminornis zhenghensis was discovered in Zhenghe County, Fujian Province. Its short tail ends in a compound bone called the pygostyle, a feature uniquely present in modern birds.