A NEW EARLY CRETACEOUS ENANTIORNITHINE (AVES, ORNITHOTHORACES) FROM NORTHWESTERN CHINA WITH ELABORATE TAIL ORNAMENTATION

被引：17

作者：

O'Connor, Jingmai K. ^{[1
]}

Li, Da-Qing ^{[2
]}

Lamanna, Matthew C. ^{[3
]}

Wang, Min ^{[1
]}

Harris, Jerald D. ^{[4
]}

Atterholt, Jessie ^{[5
]}

You, Hai-Lu ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Vertebrate Paleontol & Paleoanthropol, Key Lab Vertebrate Evolut & Human Origins, 142 Xizhimenwai Dajie, Beijing 100044, Peoples R China

[2] Gansu Geol Museum, 6 Tuanjie Rd, Lanzhou 730010, Gansu, Peoples R China

[3] Carnegie Museum Nat Hist, Sect Vertebrate Paleontol, 4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA

[4] Dixie State Coll, Dept Phys Sci, 225 South 700 East, St George, UT 84770 USA

[5] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Integrat Biol, 1101 Valley Life Sci Bldg, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA

来源：

JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY | 2016年 / 36卷 / 01期

基金：

中国国家自然科学基金;

关键词：

GANSU PROVINCE; SEXUAL-DIMORPHISM; ORNITHURINE BIRD; XIAGOU FORMATION; EARLY EVOLUTION; NORTHERN HEBEI; CHANGMA BASIN; AVIAN FLIGHT; LENGTH; MORPHOLOGY;

D O I：

10.1080/02724634.2015.1054035

中图分类号：

Q91 [古生物学];

学科分类号：

0709 ; 070903 ;

摘要：

We provide a detailed description of a well-preserved enantiornithine specimen (GSGM-05-CM-004) from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) Xiagou Formation of northwestern Gansu Province, China, for which we erect the new taxon Feitianius paradisi, gen. et sp. nov. This specimen has a distinctive pelvic morphology and can be further distinguished from all other Mesozoic birds by a unique caudal plumage formed by multiple rectricial morphotypes. This newly documented tail morphology reveals a previously unrecognized level of complexity in the plumage of basal birds. This complex tail-feather morphology has a parallel in extant sexually dimorphic birds in which the males have the most altered tails; thus, we identify this specimen as male. Ornamental tail morphologies, such as the novel tail plumage described here, dominate Enantiornithes. This reinforces hypotheses that sexual selection was a major driving force in the evolution of basal bird plumage.

引用

页数：13

共 86 条

[1] Oxygen isotopes of East Asian dinosaurs reveal exceptionally cold Early Cretaceous climates [J].