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Origin of flight: Could 'four-winged' dinosaurs fly?
Nature. 2005 Nov 17; 438(7066):E3; discussion E3-4.Nat

Abstract

Our understanding of the origin of birds, feathers and flight has been greatly advanced by new discoveries of feathered non-avian dinosaurs, but functional analyses have not kept pace with taxonomic descriptions. Zhang and Zhou describe feathers on the tibiotarsus of a new basal enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous of China. They infer, as did Xu and colleagues from similar feathers on the small non-avian theropod Microraptor found in similar deposits, that these leg feathers had aerodynamic properties and so might have been used in some kind of flight.

Authors+Show Affiliations

Padian K
Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. kpadian@.berkeley.edu
Dial KP
No affiliation info available

MeSH

AnimalsBiological EvolutionBiomechanical PhenomenaBirdsChinaDinosaursFeathersFlight, AnimalFossilsHindlimbHistory, AncientModels, BiologicalPhylogenyReproducibility of ResultsWings, Animal

Pub Type(s)

Comment
Historical Article
Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

16292258

Citation

Padian, Kevin, and Kenneth P. Dial. "Origin of Flight: Could 'four-winged' Dinosaurs Fly?" Nature, vol. 438, no. 7066, 2005, pp. E3; discussion E3-4.
Padian K, Dial KP. Origin of flight: Could 'four-winged' dinosaurs fly? Nature. 2005;438(7066):E3; discussion E3-4.
Padian, K., & Dial, K. P. (2005). Origin of flight: Could 'four-winged' dinosaurs fly? Nature, 438(7066), E3; discussion E3-4.
Padian K, Dial KP. Origin of Flight: Could 'four-winged' Dinosaurs Fly. Nature. 2005 Nov 17;438(7066):E3; discussion E3-4. PubMed PMID: 16292258.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Origin of flight: Could 'four-winged' dinosaurs fly? AU - Padian,Kevin, AU - Dial,Kenneth P, PY - 2005/11/18/pubmed PY - 2005/12/15/medline PY - 2005/11/18/entrez SP - E3; discussion E3-4 JF - Nature JO - Nature VL - 438 IS - 7066 N2 - Our understanding of the origin of birds, feathers and flight has been greatly advanced by new discoveries of feathered non-avian dinosaurs, but functional analyses have not kept pace with taxonomic descriptions. Zhang and Zhou describe feathers on the tibiotarsus of a new basal enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous of China. They infer, as did Xu and colleagues from similar feathers on the small non-avian theropod Microraptor found in similar deposits, that these leg feathers had aerodynamic properties and so might have been used in some kind of flight. SN - 1476-4687 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/16292258/Origin_of_flight:_Could_'four_winged'_dinosaurs_fly DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -