Access

Brief Communications

Nature 420, 285 (21 November 2002) | doi:10.1038/420285a

naturejobs

More science jobs
Post a job for free

Archaeoraptor's better half

Zhonghe Zhou1, Julia A. Clarke2 & Fucheng Zhang1

Top

The other component of this infamous fossil forgery is identified as a fish-eating bird.

Top

The 'Archaeoraptor' fossil, once proclaimed as a key intermediate between carnivorous dinosaurs and birds1 but now known to be a forgery, is a chimaera formed of bird and dromaeosaur parts2, 3. Although the non-avialan dinosaur tail of this controversial specimen from the Early Cretaceous Period of China has been identified4, the avialan parts of the specimen have not. Here we reveal that these avialan parts, including the hindlimbs, which were previously designated as unverifiable "attached bones"3, can be referred to a single species, Yanornis martini5, and are supported as pieces of a single, almost complete specimen. A new specimen that is also referable to this species, and which has its gut contents preserved, indicates that the principal part of this false raptor dinosaur–bird fossil is in fact a fish-eating bird.