Mosaic evolution in an asymmetrically feathered troodontid dinosaur with transitional features
説明
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Asymmetrical feathers have been associated with flight capability but are also found in species that do not fly, and their appearance was a major event in feather evolution. Among non-avialan theropods, they are only known in microraptorine dromaeosaurids. Here we report a new troodontid,<jats:italic>Jianianhualong tengi</jats:italic>gen. et sp. nov., from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group of China, that has anatomical features that are transitional between long-armed basal troodontids and derived short-armed ones, shedding new light on troodontid character evolution. It indicates that troodontid feathering is similar to<jats:italic>Archaeopteryx</jats:italic>in having large arm and leg feathers as well as frond-like tail feathering, confirming that these feathering characteristics were widely present among basal paravians. Most significantly, the taxon has the earliest known asymmetrical troodontid feathers, suggesting that feather asymmetry was ancestral to Paraves. This taxon also displays a mosaic distribution of characters like<jats:italic>Sinusonasus</jats:italic>, another troodontid with transitional anatomical features.</jats:p>
収録刊行物
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- Nature Communications
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Nature Communications 8 (1), 2017-05-02
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
