Birds are Dinosaurs: Simple Answer to a Complex Problem
@inproceedings{Feduccia2002BirdsAD, title={Birds are Dinosaurs: Simple Answer to a Complex Problem}, author={Alan Feduccia}, year={2002} }
Richard Prum's (2002) rancorous, unreviewed essay on the theropod origin of birds is a one-sided view of a difficult problem, full of anatomical misconceptions that are highly misleading, and advocates that (p. 13), "it is time to abandon debate on the theropod origin of birds." His article is essentially a restatement and defense of a current dogma of paleontology-that birds are living dinosaurs, directly descended from, or having shared common ancestry with, one of the most highly derived and…
32 Citations
Do feathered dinosaurs exist? Testing the hypothesis on neontological and paleontological evidence
- Environmental Science, BiologyJournal of morphology
- 2005
It is suggested that Aves plus bird‐like maniraptoran theropods (e.g., microraptors and others) may be a separate clade, distinctive from the main lineage of Theropoda, a remnant of the early avian radiation, exhibiting all stages of flight and flightlessness.
A short history of research on Archaeopteryx and its relationship with dinosaurs
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 2010
Abstract Archaeopteryx, first discovered in 1861 from the Solnhofen lithographic limestone of Bavaria, is the oldest feathered animal in the fossil record. Since its discovery it has been the focus…
ARE CURRENT CRITIQUES OF THE THEROPOD ORIGIN OF BIRDS SCIENCE? REBUTTAL TO FEDUCCIA (2002)
- Biology, Environmental Science
- 2003
It is concluded that one of the most important frontiers in ornithological research in this century will be the establishment of a thorough scientific understanding of the evolution of avian biology in light of the theropod origin of birds.
The origin and early evolution of birds: discoveries, disputes, and perspectives from fossil evidence
- Environmental Science, GeographyNaturwissenschaften
- 2004
Significant size and morphological differences and variation in flight capabilities, ranging from gliding to powerful flight among early birds, highlight the diversification of birds in the Early Cretaceous.
A pre-Archaeopteryx troodontid theropod from China with long feathers on the metatarsus
- Environmental Science, GeographyNature
- 2009
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.
ReviewTracing the Evolution of Avian Wing Digits
- Biology
- 2013
A comprehensive analysis of both paleontological and developmental data suggests that the evolution of the avian wing digits may have been driven by homeotic transformations of digit identity, which are more likely to have occurred in a partial and piecemeal manner.
Fossils with Feathers and Philosophy of Science
- BiologySystematic biology
- 2019
It is demonstrated that a variation of Imre Lakatos’s model of progressive versus degenerative research programmes provides a novel and productive assessment of the debate, and established that a refurbished Lakatosian account both explains the intractability of the dispute and predicts a likely outcome for the debate about avian origins.
A Basal Alvarezsauroid Theropod from the Early Late Jurassic of Xinjiang, China
- Geography, BiologyScience
- 2010
A more complete early specimen is described, dating to about 160 million years ago, which supports the conclusion that Alvarezsauroidea are a basal group of the clade containing both birds and their close theropod relatives and confirms that this group is a basal member of Maniraptora.
Hypothesis: Avian flight originated in arboreal archosaurs gliding on membranous wings
- Environmental Science
- 2018
The oldest feathers known to date have been found in archosaurs capable of flight. However, some of them (scansoriopterygids) flew by the use of a membrane rather than feathers. We therefore propose…
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