Archaeopteryx ‘still the first bird’

This video is called New Fossil in China Changes Evolutionary Origin of Birds.

From Science Alert:

Archaeopteryx ‘still the first bird’

Bob Beale, The University of New South Wales

Thursday, 27 October 2011

The crown of the famous 150-million-year-old Archaeopteryx fossil as the first bird has been restored by a new evolutionary tree.

In a study published today in the journal Biology Letters, Australian researchers say the feathered fossil is indeed of the first known bird, despite another study earlier this year suggesting otherwise.

Archaeopteryx had been considered for 150 years to be the first known bird since the first complete specimen was found in Germany in 1861, revealing a combination of reptilian and and bird features. But Chinese researchers asserted recently that a new and closely related fossil, Xiaotingia zhengi, was a bird-like dinosaur – therefore suggesting that Archaeopteryx was also a dinosaur.

However, the new study, led by Dr Michael Lee, of the South Australian Museum, used a more detailed analyis to show that Archaeopteryx was a bird.

“Archaeopteryx is iconic in palaeontology as the basal bird, however the plethora of discoveries of feathered dinosaurs in China, in particular, has progressively eroded the distinction of just what defines a bird,” says one of the authors, Dr Trevor Worthy, a palaeontologist in the UNSW School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences.

“This trend came to a head when Xaiotingia

sic; Xiaotingia

was analysed most recently and in the analysis presented Archaeopteryx was found to jump ship as it were from the birds to the dromaeosaurs.

“This sensational result was presented and attracted much publicity, but the very weak statistical support for this new relationship was not given due consideration.

“In our work, Mike Lee has shown quite clearly that methodology is highly significant and that before a paradigm is overturned data needs to be rigorously examined.

“Using a different analytical methodology than that usually used by morphologists, but one always used by analysts of molecular data, we found that Archaeopteryx remains the basal bird and does so with strong statistical support.

“This case demonstrates that multiple analysis methods should be used, each with concordant results before a paradigm breaking result is accepted. And it shows that Archaeopteryx remains the key to understanding the origin of birds.”

We describe an enormous Late Cretaceous fossil bird from Kazakhstan, known from a pair of edentulous mandibular rami (greater than 275 mm long), which adds significantly to our knowledge of Mesozoic avian morphological and ecological diversity. A suite of autapomorphies lead us to recognize the specimen as a new taxon. Phylogenetic analysis resolves this giant bird deep within Aves as a basal member of Ornithuromorpha. This Kazakh fossil demonstrates that large body size evolved at least once outside modern birds (Neornithes) and reveals hitherto unexpected trophic diversity within Cretaceous Aves: here.

What colour were the first birds? Illuminating studies provide new clues: here.

Related articles

• Could ancient bird Archaeopteryx fly?
• Giant platypus fossil discovery in Australia

• Systematic position of Archaeopteryx challenged? (phys.org)
• New Candidate for World’s First Bird (news.nationalgeographic.com)
• Bird ancestor reshuffles fossil pack (bbc.co.uk)
• New Bird-Like Dinosaur Settles Origins of Flight (blogs.discovermagazine.com)
• World’s Oldest ‘Bird’ Fossil An Example Of Avian Evolution From Dinosaurs (VIDEO) (hngn.com)
• Archaeopteryx restored in fossil reshuffle (syndicatednewsservices.com)
• ‘Dawn bird’ sees Archaeopteryx return to bird fold (newscientist.com)
• Archaeopteryx back on its perch (thehindu.com)

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