A new maniraptoran dinosaur from China with long feathers on the metatarsus |
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Authors: | Xing Xu Fucheng Zhang |
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Institution: | (1) Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology & Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100044, Peoples Republic of China;(2) Present address: American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA |
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Abstract: | The unusual presence of long pennaceous feathers on the feet of basal dromaeosaurid dinosaurs has recently been presented as strong evidence in support of the arboreal–gliding hypothesis for the origin of bird flight, but it could be a unique feature of dromaeosaurids and thus irrelevant to the theropod–bird transition. Here, we report a new eumaniraptoran theropod from China, with avian affinities, which also has long pennaceous feathers on its feet. This suggests that such morphology might represent a primitive adaptation close to the theropod–bird transition. The long metatarsus feathers are likely primitive for Eumaniraptora and might have played an important role in the origin of avian flight.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at |
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Keywords: | Pedopenna daohugouensis Dromaeosaurids Theropod– bird transition Arboreal– gliding hypothesis Eumaniraptora |
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