The bird with the T. rex head

[rogue06]

The discovery of the fossilized creature representing a previously unknown genus and species that lived in what is now northern China some 120 mya (Early Cretaceous) may provide answers regarding the evolution of birds from dinosaurs.

Basically, it's a bird with a dinosaur head. It also had an elongated scapula and first metatarsal (the bone behind our big toe), but it's the skull that's catching the attention

Source: This Ancient Creature Is a Bizarre Hybrid of Dinosaur And Bird

We can confidently say that birds are dinosaur descendants, though paleontologists are still puzzled as to how this incredible evolutionary event occurred.

Now a complete fossilized skeleton of a bird that lived in what is today China around 120 million years ago might help clarify key steps in the transformation process, presenting with a more archaic, dinosaur-like head atop a body that has more in common with modern birds.

The transition from dinosaur to bird includes some of the most dramatic changes in shape, function, and environment, which ultimately led to the body plan that is typical of today's birds.

Some of those shifting features can still be seen in the way modern birds develop. But the order in which these changes occurred, and the nature of the evolutionary pressures that gave rise to strictly avian characteristics, is still open for debate.

AncientBirdFossil.jpg

The fascinating, newly found fossil, named Cratonavis zhui, may provide important insights into the evolution of modern birds.

Researchers discovered the body print of Cratonavis, the bird with a dinosaur head, during excavations conducted in northern China.

Body prints of feathered dinosaurs and early birds, including Confuciusornis sanctus, have been discovered in this region, in sedimentary rocks formed about 120 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period.

Led by paleontologist Zhou Zhonghe from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the scientists began their investigation of the fossil skull with high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scanning.

Using the digital versions of the mineralized bones, the team reconstructed the shape and function of the skull as it was during the bird's life.

AncientFossilBirdImpression.jpg

The result shows that the shape of the Cratonavis skull is almost the same as that of dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex, and not like a bird's.

"The primitive cranial features speak to the fact that most Cretaceous birds such as Cratonavis could not move their upper bill independently with respect to the braincase and lower jaw, a functional innovation widely distributed among living birds that contributes to their enormous ecological diversity," says CAS paleontologist Zhiheng Li.

The unusual combination of a dinosaur's akinetic skull with a bird's skeleton adds to previous studies on the importance of evolutionary mosaicism in the early diversification of birds.

Very short video

Among the avian branches of the dinosaur's family tree, Cratonavis is between the long-tailed Archaeopteryx, which was more like a reptile, and the Ornithothoraces, which had already developed many of the traits of modern birds.

Also of interest is the fact the Cratonavis fossil has a surprisingly long scapula and first metatarsal (foot bone) – features which are rarely seen in the fossils of other dino-ancestors to birds, and altogether absent in modern birds.

Evolutionary trends show reduced length in the first metatarsal as birds developed.

The study authors propose that during the change from dinosaurs to birds, the first metatarsal went through a process of natural selection that made it shorter. Once it reached its optimal size, which was less than a quarter of the length of the second metatarsal, it lost its earlier functions.

The unique feature of an enlarged metatarsal in Cratonavis is more comparable to the Late Cretaceous Balaur, a member of a group of feathered carnivores known as dromaeosaurids.

The elongated scapula has been observed previously in Cretaceous birds such as Yixianornis and Apsaravis.

The fact that Cratonavis had a very long scapula probably made up for the fact that it didn't have a breastbone adapted to provide the meaty pectoral muscles a larger surface to attach to. This extinct species may have contributed to a biological experiment in flying behavior.

One of the lead authors, paleontologist Min Wang, explains "the elongate scapula could augment the mechanical advantage of muscle for humerus retraction/rotation, which compensates for the overall underdeveloped flight apparatus in this early bird, and these differences represent morphological experimentation in volant behavior early in bird diversification".

The authors mention the abnomal morphologies of the scapula and metatarsals preserved in Cratonavis highlight the breadth of skeletal plasticity in early birds.

Cratonavis zhui's unique mix of anatomy is less a stepping stone between two majestic categories of animals, but a sign of how all living things represent increments of change, and the evolution of birds of all feather occurred simultaneously along a wide variety of divergent paths.



Source

© Copyright Original Source

The full paper, Decoupling the skull and skeleton in a Cretaceous bird with unique appendicular morphologies can be accessed and read by clicking the hyperlink, although I've made the abstract from it available below

Abstract

The Cretaceous is a critical time interval that encompasses explosive diversifications of terrestrial vertebrates, particularly the period when the earliest-branching birds, after divergence from their theropod ancestors, evolved the characteristic avian Bauplan that led eventually to their global radiation. This early phylogenetic diversity is overwhelmed by the Ornithothoraces, consisting of the Enantiornithes and Ornithuromorpha, whose members evolved key derived features of crown birds. This disparity consequently circumscribes a large morphological gap between these derived clades and the oldest bird Archaeopteryx. The non-ornithothoracine pygostylians, with an intermediate phylogenetic position, are key to deciphering those evolutionary transformations, but progress in their study has been hampered by the limited diversity of known fossils. Here we report an Early Cetaceous non-ornithothoracine pygostylian, Cratonavis zhui gen. et sp. nov., that exhibits a unique combination of a non-avialan dinosaurian akinetic skull with an avialan post-cranial skeleton, revealing the key role of evolutionary mosaicism in early bird diversification. The unusually elongated scapular and metatarsal one preserved in Cratonavis highlights a breadth of skeletal plasticity, stemming from their distinct developmental modules and selection for possibly raptorial behaviour. Mapped changes in these two elements across theropod phylogeny demonstrate clade-specific evolutionary lability.

An image of the skull and it's various parts

1b300b1c-18c2-4f43-bcd3-e89917cf6076.jpg

Cranial anatomy of Cratonavis a–d,g,f, Digital reconstruction of the entire skull in dorsal (a) and ventral (b) view, the left maxilla (c, lateral view),
left postorbital (d, lateral view), right vomer (f: upper, dorsal view; lower, lateral view) and right pterygoid (g: upper, lateral view; lower, dorsal view).
e, Interpretative skull reconstruction. arb, articular facet for basipterygoid process; atf, antorbital fenestra; bp, basipterygoid process; de, dentary;
dr, dorsal ramus of dentary; ecp, ectopterygoid; en, external naris; fp, frontal process of premaxilla; fpp, frontal process of postorbital; fr, frontal; inf,
infratemporal fenestra; jmx, jugal process of maxilla; ju, jugal; jup, jugal process of postorbital; mf, maxillary fenestra; mx, maxilla; na, nasal; or, orbit;
pa, palatine; pat, palatine ramus; pi, parietal; pm, premaxilla; pmd, post-dentary mandible; pmx, premaxillary process of maxilla; po, postorbital;
poj, postorbital process of jugal; pr, parasphenoid rostrum; prv, premaxillary ramus of vomer; pt, pterygoid; ptv, pterygoid ramus of vomer; qju, quadratojugal
process of jugal; qu, quadrate; quj, quadratojugal; qup, quadrate ramus of pterygoid; rea, retroarticular process; sqq, squamosal process of quadratojugal;
sq, squamosal; sqp, squamosal process of postorbital; suf, supratemporal fenestra; vo, vomer; vr, ventral ramus of dentary; l/r, left/right side.
Scale bars, 10 mm (a and b), 5 mm (c, f and g) and 2.5 mm (d).

And another video, only 4.5 minutes

[Sparko]

[cite=This Ancient Creature Is a Bizarre Hybrid of Dinosaur And Bird]
We can confidently say that birds are dinosaur descendants, though paleontologists are still puzzled as to how this incredible evolutionary event occurred.[/video][/CENTER]

Dragons. Duh.

[rogue06]

Dragons. Duh.

For the sarcastically impaired the following is said in jest

Dinosaurs > Dragons > Birds

Dragons > Dinosaurs > Birds

[Machinist]

You see a bird with a T-Rex head in here? Didn't think so! I don't think those giraffes are doing any headbutting either!


creation.jpg

[rogue06]

Look closer


image_69912.jpg

[Sparko]

For the sarcastically impaired the following is said in jest

Dinosaurs > Dragons > Birds

Dragons > Dinosaurs > Birds

obviously the dinosaurs came first. Then they got wings and became dragons, which grew feathers and became birds.

trex.jpg?fm=jpg&fl=progressive&w=660&h=433&fit=fill.jpgdimorphodon.jpgdragon-wyvern-3d-model-ca978df770.jpg5b6b89287e46b7b0cb5eb68dfcd680b5.jpgBX7vjSt8KMtcBHyisvcSPK.jpgChicken-Sandwich-7.jpg

[rogue06]

obviously the dinosaurs came first. Then they got wings and became dragons, which grew feathers and became birds.

trex.jpg?fm=jpg&fl=progressive&w=660&h=433&fit=fill.jpgdimorphodon.jpgdragon-wyvern-3d-model-ca978df770.jpg5b6b89287e46b7b0cb5eb68dfcd680b5.jpgBX7vjSt8KMtcBHyisvcSPK.jpgChicken-Sandwich-7.jpg

You kinda went catawampus there when you went for a T rex head on a ptersoaurian body. Pterosaurs are only not related to birds they're not dinosaurs either.

[Sparko]

You kinda went catawampus there when you went for a T rex head on a ptersoaurian body. Pterosaurs are only not related to birds they're not dinosaurs either.

It's a Dimorphodon - and obviously you are wrong about the rest of your statement too. Dinosaurs became Pterosaurs became Dragons, became birds, became chicken, became sammies. with bacon

[rogue06]

It's a Dimorphodon - and obviously you are wrong about the rest of your statement too. Dinosaurs became Pterosaurs became Dragons, became birds, became chicken, became sammies. with bacon

Onto which you photoshopped a T rex head


As for the connection between bacon and dinosaurs... Since there is none, roguetech is seeking to change that, hence, the Baconosaur.

This is something like what we're hoping to accomplish after some gene splicing

baconosaurus.jpg

[Sparko]

Onto which you photoshopped a T rex head


As for the connection between bacon and dinosaurs... Since there is none, roguetech is seeking to change that, hence, the Baconosaur.

This is something like what we're hoping to accomplish after some gene splicing

baconosaurus.jpg

https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/...hodon_e70a.jpg
https://imgbin.com/png/hUHPxLp9/dino...pteranodon-png
https://forum.ludia.com/t/dinosaur-o...orphodon/57091
https://jurassicworld-evolution.fand...ki/Dimorphodon

[rogue06]

https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/...hodon_e70a.jpg
https://imgbin.com/png/hUHPxLp9/dino...pteranodon-png
https://forum.ludia.com/t/dinosaur-o...orphodon/57091
https://jurassicworld-evolution.fand...ki/Dimorphodon

Interesting considering your earlier source had this which seems to better match up with what the fossils indicate



dimorphodon_0713 (1).jpg

[Sparko]

Interesting considering your earlier source had this which seems to better match up with what the fossils indicate



dimorphodon_0713 (1).jpg

scroll down the page. It has several different possible looks some with a very t-rex head look to them.

I mean you are the one claiming a bird with a T-rex head. I don't see that at all in your photos.

[Sparko]

76l9sc.jpg

[rogue06]

scroll down the page. It has several different possible looks some with a very t-rex head look to them.

As I said, the actual fossils exclude some of the flights of fancy

Dimorphodon_Flight_Pose.png


You don't get a T rex head out of that

Even with a more robust configuration

images.jpg

[Sparko]

As I said, the actual fossils exclude some of the flights of fancy

Dimorphodon_Flight_Pose.png


You don't get a T rex head out of that

Even with a more robust configuration

images.jpg

So, how are you getting a t-rex head with regard to your bird, Mr. Picky? Not even close.