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A new toothless pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota with comments on the Chaoyangopteridae
The Chaoyangopteridae is a clade of azhdarchoid pterosaurs that stands out in China, particularly in the Jehol Biota, as a Cretaceous group of...
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Intra-gastric phytoliths provide evidence for folivory in basal avialans of the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota
Angiosperms became the dominant plant group in early to middle Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems, coincident with the timing of the earliest pulse of...
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A new wing skeleton of the Jehol tapejarid Sinopterus and its implications for ontogeny and paleoecology of the Tapejaridae
The tapejarid pterosaurs flourished in the Jehol Biota with an abundance of immature individuals and a rarity of individuals at skeletal maturity....
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Intestinal preservation in a birdlike dinosaur supports conservatism in digestive canal evolution among theropods
Dromaeosaurids were bird-like dinosaurs with a predatory ecology known to forage on fish, mammals and other dinosaurs. We describe Daurlong wangi ...
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Middle ear innovation in Early Cretaceous eutherian mammals
The middle ear ossicles in modern mammals are repurposed from postdentary bones in non-mammalian cynodonts. Recent discoveries by palaeontological...
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An extraordinary fossil captures the struggle for existence during the Mesozoic
Dinosaurs and mammals have coexisted for the last ~ 230 million years. Both groups arose during the Late Triassic and diversified throughout the...
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Reanalysis of putative ovarian follicles suggests that Early Cretaceous birds were feeding not breeding
We address the identity of putative ovarian follicles in Early Cretaceous bird fossils from the Jehol Biota (China), whose identification has...
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Hierarchical biota-level and taxonomic controls on the chemistry of fossil melanosomes revealed using synchrotron X-ray fluorescence
Fossil melanosomes, micron-sized granules rich in melanin in vivo , provide key information for investigations of the original coloration, taxonomy...
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A new transitional therizinosaurian theropod from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of China
Therizinosaurian theropods evolved many highly specialized osteological features in association with their bulky proportions, which were unusual in...
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Completing the loop of the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous true polar wander event
The reorientation of Earth through rotation of its solid shell relative to its spin axis is known as True polar wander (TPW). It is well-documented...
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Fossoriality and evolutionary development in two Cretaceous mammaliamorphs
Mammaliamorpha comprises the last common ancestor of Tritylodontidae and Mammalia plus all its descendants
1 . Tritylodontids are nonmammaliaform...
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Cellular structure of dinosaur scales reveals retention of reptile-type skin during the evolutionary transition to feathers
Fossil feathers have transformed our understanding of integumentary evolution in vertebrates. The evolution of feathers is associated with novel skin...
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Taphonomic experiments reveal authentic molecular signals for fossil melanins and verify preservation of phaeomelanin in fossils
Melanin pigments play a critical role in physiological processes and shaping animal behaviour. Fossil melanin is a unique resource for understanding...
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Mass mortality events of autochthonous faunas in a Lower Cretaceous Gondwanan Lagerstätte
Mass mortality events are unusual in the Crato Formation. Although mayflies’ accumulations have been previously reported from that unit, they lacked...
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The oldest fossil record of Pseudopsinae from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of northeastern China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pseudopsinae)
The Cretaceous witnessed a radiation of rove beetles (Staphylinidae), the most species-rich beetle family. Although most staphylinid subfamilies have...
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Inter-amphibian predation in the Early Cretaceous of China
For most fossil taxa, dietary inference relies primarily on indirect evidence from jaw morphology and the dentition. In rare cases, however,...
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An Early Cretaceous eutherian and the placental–marsupial dichotomy
Molecular estimates of the divergence of placental and marsupial mammals and their broader clades (Eutheria and Metatheria, respectively) fall...
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A mid-Cretaceous enantiornithine foot and tail feather preserved in Burmese amber
Since the first skeletal remains of avians preserved in amber were described in 2016, new avian remains trapped in Cretaceous-age Burmese amber...
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Exceptional preservation and foot structure reveal ecological transitions and lifestyles of early theropod flyers
Morphology of keratinised toe pads and foot scales, hinging of foot joints and claw shape and size all inform the grasping ability, cursoriality and...
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A new caudipterid from the Lower Cretaceous of China with information on the evolution of the manus of Oviraptorosauria
Caudipteridae is a basal clade of Oviraptorosauria, all known species from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of northeastern China. They were one of...
