Hind Wings in Basal Birds and the Evolution of Leg Feathers

@article{Zheng2013HindWI,
  title={Hind Wings in Basal Birds and the Evolution of Leg Feathers},
  author={Xiao-ting Zheng and Zhonghe Zhou and Xiao-li Wang and Fucheng Zhang and Xiaomei Zhang and Yan Wang and Guangjin Wei and Shuo Wang and Xing Xu},
  journal={Science},
  year={2013},
  volume={339},
  pages={1309 - 1312}
}
Four-Winged Birds? Recently, nonavialan dinosaurs with feathers on their fore- and hindlimbs have been described. Zheng et al. (p. 1309) describe eleven basal avialan fossils with clear evidence of feathered hindlimbs. Together these fossils show that early avialans possessed four wings, rather than two. A gradual reduction in hindlimb feathering eventually yielded the two-wing condition in today's birds. Such a transition may have accompanied a locomotory decoupling of the fore- and hindlimbs… Expand
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