Four-winged dinosaurs from China
- Xing（徐星） Xu, Zhonghe Zhou, Xiaolin Wang, Xuewen Kuang, Fucheng Zhang, Xiangke Du
- BiologyNature
- 23 January 2003
New evidence is provided suggesting that basal dromaeosaurid dinosaurs were four-winged animals and probably could glide, representing an intermediate stage towards the active, flapping-flight stage of proavians.
A bizarre Jurassic maniraptoran from China with elongate ribbon-like feathers
- Fucheng Zhang, Zhonghe Zhou, Xing（徐星） Xu, Xiaolin Wang, C. Sullivan
- Environmental Science, BiologyNature
- 24 September 2008
This finding shows that a member of the avialan lineage experimented with integumentary ornamentation as early as the Middle to Late Jurassic, and provides further evidence relating to this aspect of the transition from non-avian theropods to birds.
Insight into diversity, body size and morphological evolution from the largest Early Cretaceous enantiornithine bird
- Zhonghe Zhou, J. Clarke, Fucheng Zhang
- Biology, Environmental ScienceJournal of Anatomy
- 1 May 2008
The largest Early Cretaceous enantiornithine bird from north‐east China is reported, which provides evidence that basal members of Enantiornithes share more morphologies with ornithurine birds than previously recognized, and allows a re‐evaluation of a previously proposed hypothesis of competitive exclusion among EarlyCretaceous avian clades.
Further support for a Cretaceous age for the feathered-dinosaur beds of Liaoning,China:New 40Ar÷39Ar dating of the Yixian and Tuchengzi Formations
- C. Swisher, Xiaolin Wang, Yuanquing Wang
- Geology
- 2002
We report new 40Ar÷39Ar dating results obtained from total fusion and incremental-heating analyses of sanidine and biotite from three tuffs found interbedded within the fossil-bearing deposits of…
Anatomy of the primitive bird Sapeornis chaoyangensis from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning, China
- Zhonghe Zhou, Fucheng Zhang
- Biology
- 1 May 2003
Two new, nearly completely articulated skeletons of Sapeornis chaoyangensis provide much new information about the anatomy of this basal avian, particularly in the skull, pectoral girdle, forelimb,…
Insight into the evolution of avian flight from a new clade of Early Cretaceous ornithurines from China and the morphology of Yixianornis grabaui
- J. Clarke, Zhonghe Zhou, Fucheng Zhang
- BiologyJournal of Anatomy
- 1 March 2006
The complete articulated holotype specimen of Yixianornis grabaui, from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province, in north‐eastern China, arguably the best‐preserved basal ornithurine specimen yet discovered, provides the earliest evidence consistent with the presence of extant avian tail feather fanning.
Jeholornis compared to Archaeopteryx, with a new understanding of the earliest avian evolution
- Zhonghe Zhou, Fucheng Zhang
- BiologyDie Naturwissenschaften
- 15 April 2003
The recently reported Jeholornis represents the only known bird with a complete long skeletal tail except for Archaeopteryx, and it is concluded that the common ancestor of birds must have a more primitive tail than that in Archaeoporationx, confirming the side branch position of Archaeoperyx in the early avian evolution.
A beaked basal ornithurine bird (Aves, Ornithurae) from the Lower Cretaceous of China
- Zhonghe Zhou, Fucheng Zhang
- Environmental Science, Biology
- 1 July 2006
One of the earliest known beaked ornithurine birds from the Lower Cretaceous deposits in Liaoning, northeast China is reported, with a rhynchokinetic skull with toothless jaws and over three dozen preserved gizzard stones, suggesting an herbivorous diet.
The Vertebrates of the Jurassic Daohugou Biota of Northeastern China
- C. Sullivan, Yuan-Jyun Wang, D. Hone, Yuanqing Wang, Xing Xu, Fucheng Zhang
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 1 March 2014
The Daohugou Biota and the Jehol Biota are two successive Lagerstätte assemblages that collectively offer a taphonomically consistent window into the Mesozoic life of northeast Asia over a significant span of geologic time.
Fossilized melanosomes and the colour of Cretaceous dinosaurs and birds
- Fucheng Zhang, S. Kearns, Xiaolin Wang
- Environmental Science, GeographyNature
- 25 February 2010
It is reported that melanosomes (colour-bearing organelles) are not only preserved in the pennaceous feathers of early birds, but also in an identical manner in integumentary filaments of non-avian dinosaurs, thus refuting recent claims that the filaments are partially decayed dermal collagen fibres.
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