Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Wang M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5290326 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Wang Min M O'Connor Jingmai K JK Pan Yanhong Y Zhou Zhonghe Z
Nature communications 20170131
Enantiornithes are the most successful clade of Mesozoic birds. Here, we describe a new enantiornithine bird, Cruralispennia multidonta gen. et sp. nov., from the Protopteryx-horizon of the Early Cretaceous Huajiying Formation of China. Despite being among the oldest known enantiornithines, Cruralispennia displays derived morphologies that are unexpected at such an early stage in the evolution of this clade. A plough-shaped pygostyle, like that of the Ornithuromorpha, evolved convergently in the ...[more]