'Weird' dinosaur prompts rethink of bird evolution – Nature.com

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.
Advertisement
You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar
One hundred and fifty million years ago, a young, bantam-sized, bird-like dinosaur became mired in a swamp in what is now southeastern China, and succumbed. Its fossilized remains, unearthed in 2022 and named Fujianvenator prodigiosus, show it to be one of the earliest bird-like dinosaurs to date from the Jurassic period. The researchers describe their discovery in a paper published today in Nature¹.

Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time

Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue

Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Nature 621, 239 (2023)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02757-5
Xu, L. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06513-7 (2023).
Article  Google Scholar 
Download references
Reprints and Permissions
China's dinosaur hunter: The ground breaker
New contender for first bird
Huge haul of rare pterosaur eggs excites palaeontologists
Snow-loving flies amputate their own legs for survival
Research Highlight 26 SEP 23
How to train your jellyfish: brainless box jellies learn from experience
News 22 SEP 23
The neural circuit that makes maternal mice respond to pups’ cries
News & Views 20 SEP 23
From the archive: lost in translation, and fascinating frogs
News & Views 03 OCT 23
The sex-specific factor SOA controls dosage compensation in Anopheles mosquitos
Article 28 SEP 23
Digging up ancient animals in Amazonia
Spotlight 28 SEP 23
Uniquely preserved gut contents illuminate trilobite palaeophysiology
Article 27 SEP 23
Getting inside the oldest known vertebrate skull
News & Views 20 SEP 23
The oldest three-dimensionally preserved vertebrate neurocranium
Article 20 SEP 23
The Faculty of Medicine is one of the four founding faculties of the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. With its non-clinical facilities as wel…
Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg (DE)
Universitätsklinikum Tübingen
Founded in 1897, Zhejiang University (ZJU) ranks among the top 3 universities on Chinese mainland and within the top 100 in the Times Higher Educat…
Hangzhou, Zhejiang (CN)
Stomatology Hospital, School of Stomatology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine(ZJUSS)
Houston, Texas (US)
Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)
The Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute of Sinai Health is recruiting an emerging leader in the area of Musculoskeletal Regenerative Medicine.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute
The Department of Microbiology invites applications for the endowed tenure-track position of Ohio Eminent Scholar in Industrial Microbiology.
Columbus, Ohio
The Ohio State University, Department of Microbiology

China's dinosaur hunter: The ground breaker
New contender for first bird
Huge haul of rare pterosaur eggs excites palaeontologists
An essential round-up of science news, opinion and analysis, delivered to your inbox every weekday.
Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.
Nature (Nature) ISSN 1476-4687 (online) ISSN 0028-0836 (print)
© 2023 Springer Nature Limited

source