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'''Caudipteryx''' (meaning "tail feather"^[1]) is a genus of small, peacock-sized Early Cretaceous theropod dinosaurs that lived in the Barremian (about 127 million years ago). They were feathered and remarkably birdlike in their overall appearance.
Two species have been named, ''C. zoui'' (the type species) and ''C. dongi'', which was described in 2000.^[2] ''Caudipteryx'' fossils were first discovered in the Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province, northeastern China in 1997. The animals had a short skull that retained only a few sharp, long teeth in the front of the upper jaw. It had long legs and was probably a swift runner. It had symmetrical, pennaceous feathers on its arms and hands that measured between 6-8 inches (15-20 centimeters). An additional fan of feathers existed on its short tail. The shortness of these feathers and their symmetry indicate that ''Caudipteryx'' could not fly. It is often surmised to have been a omnivore, and was found with gastroliths in its gizzard.

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Phylogenetic position

References

External links

Phylogenetic position

In cladistic analyses, ''Caudipteryx'' is usually shown to be closely related to the Oviraptoridae. While most scientists consider ''Caudipteryx'' hard evidence for the dinosaurian ancestry of birds, some (e.g. Alan Feduccia) claim that ''Caudipteryx'' (along with all other maniraptorans) are not theropod dinosaurs at all, but birds which evolved from a non-dinosaurian ancestor. They note that oviraptorosaurian fossils (and ''Caudipteryx'' in particular) have short tails, similar to the bird ''Confuciusornis'', and skulls which show many birdlike features that are not found in other theropods. Gastroliths were present in the ''Caudipteryx'' fossil, which indicate that these were mostly herbivores, whereas most theropods ate animals. The fossils also lack the serrated teeth typical of theropods.^[3]
Feduccia and mammalian paleontologist Larry Martin believe these fossils are the remains of flightless birds that evolved from a flying ancestor, probably ''Archaeopteryx''.^[4] The view that ''Caudipteryx'' was secondarily flightless is also supported by some researchers who consider birds to be descendents of dinosaurs, notably Gregory S. Paul^[5], Lü ''et al.''^[6], and Maryanska ''et al.''^[7]. On the other hand, an analysis that purported to find the legs of ''Caudipteryx'' to closely resemble those of flightless, cursorial Neornithes (modern birds) such as the ostrich (Jones ''et al'' 2000) was dismissed for major methodological flaws.^[8][9]

References

1. Ji, Q., Currie, P.J., Norell, M.A., and Ji, S. (1998). "Two feathered dinosaurs from northeastern China." ''Nature'', '393'(6687): 753-761. PDF fulltext
2. Zhou, Z., and Wang, X. (2000). "A new species of ''Caudipteryx'' from the Yixian Formation of Liaoning, northeast China." ''Vertebrata Palasiatica'', '38'(2): 113-130. PDF fulltext
3. Zhou, Z., Wang, X., Zhang, F., and Xu, X. (2000). "Important features of ''Caudipteryx'' - Evidence from two nearly complete new specimens." ''Vertebrata Palasiatica'', '38'(4): 241-254. PDF fulltext
4. Martin, L.D., and Czerkas, S.A. (2000). "The Fossil Record of Feather Evolution in the Mesozoic." ''American Zoologist'', '40'(4): 687-694. PDF fulltext
5. Paul, G.S. (2002). ''Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. ISBN 0801867630
6. Lü, J., Dong, Z., Azuma, Y., Barsbold, R., and Tomida, Y. (2002). "Oviraptorosaurs compared to birds." In Zhou, Z., and Zhang, F. (eds.), ''Proceedings of the 5th Symposium of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution'', 175-189. Beijing Science Press.
7. Maryanska, T., Osmólska, H., and Wolsam, M. (2002). "Avialian status for Oviraptorosauria." ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica'', '47'(1): 97-116. PDF fulltext
8. Jones, T.D., Farlow, J.O., Ruben, J.A., Henderson, D.M., and Hillenius, W.J. (2000). "Cursoriality in bipedal archosaurs." ''Nature'', '406'(6797): 716-718. PDF fulltext Supplementary information
9. Dyke, G.J., and Norell, M.A. (2005). "''Caudipteryx'' as a non-avialan theropod rather than a flightless bird." ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica'', '50'(1): 101-116. PDF fulltext


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External links

★ Australian Museum: Chinese Dinosaurs: ''Caudipteryx zoui''. Retrieved 2007-FEB-19.

★ Dino Russ's Lair: ''Caudipteryx'' reconstruction by paleoartist Jim Robins. Retrieved 2007-FEB-19.

★ Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County: From Dinosaurs to Birds: ''Caudipteryx''. Retrieved 2007-FEB-19.

★ Research Casting International: Life-size model of ''Caudipteryx zoui''. Retrieved 2007-FEB-19.

★ CNN: Scientists: Fossils prove that birds evolved from dinosaurs. Retrieved 2007-AUG-10