Birds are one of the most recognizable and diverse groups of modern vertebrates. Over the
past two decades, a wealth of new fossil discoveries and phylogenetic and …

Background The origin of birds is one of the most enduring and dramatic evolutionary
debates. The hypothesis that the primarily small-sized birds are nested within a theropod …

The evolution of birds from theropod dinosaurs was one of the great evolutionary transitions
in the history of life [1–22]. The macroevolutionary tempo and mode of this transition is …

Uncertainties in the phylogeny of birds (Avialae) and their closest relatives have impeded
deeper understanding of early theropod flight. To help address this, we produced an …

Discoveries of bird-like theropod dinosaurs and basal avialans in recent decades have
helped to put the iconic 'Urvogel'Archaeopteryx into context,,,, and have yielded important …

Relative brain sizes in birds can rival those of primates, but large-scale patterns and drivers
of avian brain evolution remain elusive. Here, we explore the evolution of the fundamental …

Maniraptora includes birds and their closest relatives among theropod dinosaurs,,,,. During
the Cretaceous period, several maniraptoran lineages diverged from the ancestral …

Abstract The Late Cretaceous was a time of tremendous global change, as the final stages
of the Age of Dinosaurs were shaped by climate and sea level fluctuations and witness to …

Isolated theropod teeth are some of the most common fossils in the dinosaur fossil record
and are continually reported in the literature. Recently developed quantitative methods have …

Features that were once considered exclusive to modern birds, such as feathers and a
furcula, are now known to have first appeared in non-avian dinosaurs. However, relatively …