Alan Feduccia

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | UNC · Department of Biology

The idea that birds are maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs is now considered an evolutionary consensus. An “open” (i.e., completely or substantially perforate) acetabulum is considered an important synapomorphy verifying the bird–dinosaur nexus. Here, I present anatomical evidence from the acetabulum and its important appurtenances, the supracetabular...

That birds are maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs is now considered an evolutionary consensus. An “open” (i.e., completely, or substantially perforate) acetabulum is considered an important synapomorphy verifying the bird-dinosaur nexus. Here I present anatomical evidence from morphological aspects of the acetabulum and its important appurtenances, th...

Recent genomic advances have transformed our understanding of birds.

"Romancing the Birds and Dinosaurs" explores critical questions on birds and dinosaurs with credible evidence and biological thought. Are feathered dinosaurs in reality "hidden birds" derived from the early avian radiation? Did flight originate via the natural "gravity-assisted" trees-down model or the improbable "gravity-resisted" ground-up scenar...

Book Review

Birds of Stone contains a portfolio of outstanding photographs of the spectacularly preserved Jehol bird fossils, from the Chinese Lower Cretaceous, and other pertinent vertebrate fossils of varying ages, along with comments on each fossil. The book nicely illustrates a range of species of the radiation of enantiornithines (opposite birds), the dom...

No area of paleontology has changed more in recent years than the history of birds, both during the Mesozoic Era and the Tertiary Period. The most controversial issue in the study of birds for several decades has been their origin, and the origin of avian flight and feathers, and clearly too much emphasis has been placed on the earliest known bird,...

The origin of bird flight is historically a subject of keen interest and heated debate, generally with two dominant models: the arboreal or trees-down, and the cursorial or ground-up theories. Both models have advocates today although the vast majority of specialists in the field strongly favor the more realistic and intuitively facile trees-down m...

Adherents of the current orthodoxy of a derivation of birds from theropod dinosaurs, criticize the commentary by Feduccia (2013, Auk, 130) [1 - 12] entitled "Bird Origins Anew" as well as numerous papers by Lingham-Soliar on theropod dermal fibers, using numerous mischaracterizations and misstatements of content, and illustrate their own misconcept...

Considerable debate surrounds the numerous avian-like traits in core maniraptorans (oviraptorosaurs, troodontids, and dromaeosaurs), especially in the Chinese Early Cretaceous oviraptorosaur Caudipteryx, which preserves modern avian pennaceous primary remiges attached to the manus, as is the case in modern birds. Was Caudipteryx derived from earth-...

Re-examination utilizing Keyence 3D digital microscopy and low angled illumination of the fossil Scansoriopteryx, a problematic sparrow-size pre-Archaeopteryx specimen from the Jurassic Daohugou Biotas, provides new evidence which challenges the widely accepted hypothesis that birds are derived from dinosaurs in which avian flight originated from c...

Background Old World vultures are likely polyphyletic, representing two subfamilies, the Aegypiinae and Gypaetinae, and some genera of the latter may be of independent origin. Evidence concerning the origin, as well as the timing of the divergence of each subfamily and even genera of the Gypaetinae has been elusive. Methodology/Principal Findings...

Remarkable fossil finds in China seemed to have settled a long-running argument once and for all – birds really do represent the last living dinosaur. Or do they?

Examining and interpreting recent spectacular fossil discoveries in China, paleontologists have arrived at a prevailing view: there is now incontrovertible evidence that birds represent the last living dinosaur. But is this conclusion beyond dispute? In this book, evolutionary biologist Alan Feduccia provides the most comprehensive discussion yet o...

Among the most striking avian anatomical divergences from the typical tetrapod pattern is the reduction of the cephalic alimentary canal to a bare minimum required for food procurement, generally believed to be an adaptation for lightening the avian body for flight (1). Much of this anatomical modification involved jettisoning teeth concomitantly w...

There have been a number of studies on the claws of Mesozoic birds, largely driven by interest in the habitat of Archaeopteryx. Many Mesozoic avians have large, well formed manual claws, largely absent in contemporary birds. Juvenile hoatzins are the only living birds with claws that are large enough to be generally functional, but not equivalent t...

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The following critiques express the opinions of the individual evaluators regarding the strengths, weaknesses, and value of the books they review. As such, the appraisals are subjective assessments and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or any official policy of the American Ornithologists' Union.

The scapula and coracoid of the first bird Archaeopteryx represents a highly specialized morphology approaching that of modern carinate birds, with the scapula meeting the coracoid at an angle of approximately 90o. The primitive condition of the avian scapula and coracoid is exhibited by the flightless ratites, birds exhibiting many other primitive...

A falconiform Miocene fossil bird from North America, represented by a nearly complete tarsometatarsus with phalanges in place, is that of a hawk that converged on the living Secretarybird Sagittarius serpentarius. It is described as a new genus and species, Apatosagittarius terrenus. The palaeoenvironment indicates a Miocene setting similar to the...

Alleged primitive feathers or protofeathers in the theropod dinosaur Sinosauropteryx have potentially profound implications concerning feather morphogenesis, evolution offlight, dinosaur physiology and perhaps even the origin of birds, yet their existence has never been adequately documented. We report on a new specimen of Sinosauropteryx which sho...

The origin of birds and avian flight from within the archosaurian radiation has been among the most contentious issues in paleobiology. Although there is general agreement that birds are related to theropod dinosaurs at some level, debate centers on whether birds are derived directly from highly derived theropods, the current dogma, or from an earl...

Guidelines for submitting commentsPolicy: Comments that contribute to the discussion of the article will be posted within approximately three business days. We do not accept anonymous comments. Please include your email address; the address will not be displayed in the posted comment. Cell Press Editors will screen the comments to ensure that they...

The following critiques express the opinions of the individual evaluators regarding the strengths, weaknesses, and value of the books they review. As such, the appraisals are subjective assessments and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or any official policy of the American Ornithologists' Union.

The early evolution of living birds has been sharply debated, with two disparate interpretations. Molecular-clock studies consistently date the emergence of modern bird orders at ∼100 million years ago or older, coincidental with major continental breakup. This is supported by some biogeographers who use phylogenetics, accept an ancient evolutionar...

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The problem of resolving the homology of the digits of the avian hand has been framed as a conflict between paleontological and embryological evidence, the former thought to support a hand composed of digits I, II, III, because of similarity of the phalangeal formulae of the earliest known bird Archaeopteryx to that of Mesozoic pentadactyl archosau...

Discoveries of archaic Mesozoic fossil birds ('opposite' birds, or enantiornithines) during the past decade have revolutionized our understanding of early avian evolution, but the rarity of Early Cretaceous ornithurines - birds that are closely related to the modern avian radiation - has meant that information about these species has lagged behind.

Discoveries of archaic Mesozoic fossil birds ('opposite' birds, or enantiornithines) during the past decade have revolutionized our understanding of early avian evolution, but the rarity of Early Cretaceous ornithurines - birds that are closely related to the modern avian radiation - has meant that information about these species has lagged behind.

Guidelines for submitting commentsPolicy: Comments that contribute to the discussion of the article will be posted within approximately three business days. We do not accept anonymous comments. Please include your email address; the address will not be displayed in the posted comment. Cell Press Editors will screen the comments to ensure that they...

First discovered in 1860,Archaeopteryx has played a prominent role in discussions of avian origin especially during the 20th century. One of the most dramatic discoveries in modern ornithology involved the revelation of a completely new clade of Mesozoic birds, the enantiornithines, first described in 1981. Among the most spectacular of these early...

Most current phylogenetic hypotheses based upon cladistic methodology assert that birds are the direct descendants of derived maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs, and that the origin of avian flight necessarily developed within a terrestrial context (i.e., from the “ground up”). Most theoretical aerodynamic and energetic models or chronologically appro...

Longisquama insignis was an unusual archosaur from the Late Triassic of central Asia. Along its dorsal axis Longisquama bore a series of paired integumentary appendages that resembled avian feathers in many details, especially in the anatomy of the basal region. The latter is sufficiently similar to the calamus of modern feathers that each probably...

Since the description of Confuciusornis (the oldest beaked bird) in1995, based on three partial specimens, large numbers of complete skeletons have been recovered,. Most new material of Confuciusornis, can be assigned to a single sexually dimorphic species, C. sanctus . Here we report a new species based on a remarkably well preserved skeleton with...

Although most fields of science are constantly struggling with which methodologies to use, the field of systematics, and especially paleontology, has adopted phylogenetic systematics (cladistic methodology) to the exclusion of other approaches. Despite a barrage of cautions and criticism, cladistics reigns. Considered a triumph of the field of pale...

L.D. Martin, Z. ZhouNatural History Museum and Department of Systematics and Ecology,University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USAL. HouInstitute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology,Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 643, Beijing 100044, ChinaA. FeducciaDepartment of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,NC 27599-3280,...

Homologies of the three fingers in birds have been debated for more than a century. Paleontologists have traditionally identified avian digits as I-II-III largely on the basis of phalangeal counts, whereas embryologists number them II-III-IV on the basis of development in the egg. The report by Ann

Norell et al. describe a Velociraptor `wishbone' which they interpret as a new piece of evidence for the theropod origin of birds. The bone fits a pattern of furcula-like structures that have been discovered in certain late Cretaceous theropods, including Oviraptor, Ingenia and possibly others, some of which possess clavicles - usually not fused. B...

Homologies of digits in the avian hand have been debated for 150 years. Cladistic analysis nests birds with theropod dinosaurs. Theropod hands retain only digits I-II-III, so digits of the modern bird hand are often identified as I-II-III. Study of the developing manus and pes in amniote embryos, including a variety of avian species, shows stereoty...

Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous birds from northeastern China, including many complete skeletons of Confuciusornis, provide evidence for a fundamental dichotomy in the class Aves that may antedate the temporal occurrence of the Late Jurassic Archaeopteryx. The abundance of Confuciusornis may provide evidence of avian social behavior. Jurassic sk...

DISCOVERY of avian remains close to the age of Archaeopteryx in the Liaoning Province of northeastern China provides the earliest evidence for a beaked, edentulous bird. The associated wing skeleton retains the primitive pattern found in Archaeopteryx, including a manus with unfused carpal elements and long digits. Two leg skeletons from the same s...

The Late Jurassic Archaeopteryx has been thought to have been a feathered predator adapted to running that represented a terrestrial stage in the evolution of true birds from coelurosaurian dinosaurs. Examination of claw geometry, however, shows that (i) modern ground- and tree-dwelling birds can be distinguished on the basis of claw curvature, in...

The initial selective context for the evolution of feathers has remained enigmatic, and recent research has focused inappropriately on the first known bird, the late Jurassic Archaeopteryx, which already had a fully developed, modern avian wing. Thus, speculative preadaptive scenarios have been envisioned to explain the initial evolution of feather...

Birds have traditionally been termed the best known group of vertebrates. This cliché, however, relates to the fact that living species are well described, even to the subspecies level. Birds are well known because they are diurnal (therefore easily observed) and because of their aesthetic appeal—birds are beautiful. Because of this appeal, birds h...

Vanes in the primary flight feathers of Archaeopteryx conform to the asymmetric pattern in modern flying birds. The asymmetry has aerodynamic functions and can be assumed to have evolved in the selective context of flight.

As the earliest birds known, the late Jurassic specimens of Archaeopteryx have been the object of great speculative interest. Ostrom1–3 has argued that Archaeopteryx was a terrestrial, cursorial predator that represents a preflight stage in the origin of birds in which the forelimbs were used as nets to trap insects. So far, this has been challenge...

A re-evaluation of the evolutionary stages in modern ducks and flamingos is permitted by recent discoveries of large concentrations of the Eocene avian fossil Presbyornis pervetus from Wyoming.Presbyornis was originally described as a new family, genus and species of recurvirostrid shorebird. Recent discoveries of nearly complete elements (includin...

THE avian order Ciconiiformes contains a heterogeneous assemblage of long legged, long necked birds which have traditionally been classified together because of superficial resemblance. The order usually contains the storks, ibises, herons and two rather aberrant birds, the whalebill (Balaeniceps rex) and the hammerkop (Scopus umbretta), which are...

The Passeriformes and related avian orders (here termed “perching birds”) have presented almost insurmountable problems in resolving phylogenetic relationships. New evidence from the morphology of the avian stapes (columella) permits a reassessment of the phylogenetic relationships of the advanced perching birds. Though the stapes represents but a...

Recent discoveries of zygodactyl birds in the Eocene of Wyoming, along with reinterpretation of previously described taxa, show that these forms belong to an extinct family, affiliated with the Bucconidae, for which we here propose the name Primobucconidae. The genera Primobucco , Neanis, Uintornis, Botauroides , and a new genus, Eobucco , are assi...

i>Neanis schucherti , an avian fossil from the lower Eocene Green River Formation of Wyoming, was described in 1913 under the genus Hebe by Shufeldt as the earliest representative of the order Passeriformes. The name Neanis has since been substituted for Hebe for reasons of priority. The specimen is here restudied and is found to be of piciform, no...

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