A pre-Archaeopteryx troodontid theropod from China with long feathers on the metatarsus
A pre-Archaeopteryx troodontid theropod from China with long feathers on the metatarsus
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来自中国的前始祖鸟伤齿兽脚类恐龙，跖骨上有长羽毛
DOI：
10.1038/nature08322
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发表时间：
2009-10-01
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Xu, Xing
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hu, Dongyu;Hou, Lianhai;Xu, Xing
衍生的非鸟类兽脚类恐龙的主要类群的早期进化仍然没有得到很好的了解，主要是因为它们在侏罗纪的化石记录很少。这个问题的一个众所周知的结果是“时间悖论”论点，有时会反对禽类起源的兽脚亚目假说(1)。在此，我们报告了从中国辽宁西部最早的晚侏罗世髫髻山组采集的保存异常完好的小型兽脚亚目恐龙标本(2)。该标本属于伤齿兽科，它是与鸟类关系最密切的兽脚类动物之一。这一新发现驳斥了“时间悖论”(1)，并提供了有关兽脚亚目恐龙分化的时间框架的重要信息。此外，该标本的广泛羽毛，特别是长羽毛附着在足上，为羽毛的早期进化提供了新的线索，并展示了接近恐龙-鸟类过渡的骨骼和外皮特征的复杂分布。
The early evolution of the major groups of derived non-avialan theropods is still not well understood, mainly because of their poor fossil record in the Jurassic. A well-known result of this problemis the 'temporal paradox' argument that is sometimes made against the theropod hypothesis of avian origins(1). Here we report on an exceptionally well-preserved small theropod specimen collected from the earliest Late Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of western Liaoning, China(2). The specimen is referable to the Troodontidae, which are among the theropods most closely related to birds. This new find refutes the 'temporal paradox'(1) and provides significant information on the temporal framework of theropod divergence. Furthermore, the extensive feathering of this specimen, particularly the attachment of long pennaceous feathers to the pes, sheds new light on the early evolution of feathers and demonstrates the complex distribution of skeletal and integumentary features close to the dinosaur-bird transition.