Two newly discovered fossils from China are the oldest relative of modern birds found so far, and had relatively few traits of their dinosaur ancestors.
Min Wang and Zhonghe Zhou at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing and their colleagues describe two fossils from northeast China dating to 130.7 million years ago. The new species, Archaeornithura meemannae (pictured), boasted elaborate plumage — including a fan-shaped tail — and other defining features of modern birds such as a wishbone. This suggests that even these early birds, which are six million years older than previously discovered bird fossils, had already shed key dinosaur traits.
A. meemannae belongs to a family of wading birds, hinting that modern birds originated near water, the team says.
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Early modern bird. Nature 521, 128 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/521128a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/521128a
