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Published online 17 June 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.577
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Dinosaur's digits show how birds got wings
A new dinosaur species looks set to solve an old evolutionary puzzle.
Birds are generally considered to be the living descendants of dinosaurs, yet differences between bird wings and dinosaur hands have long left palaeontologists struggling to explain how birds would have evolved from their dinosaur ancestors.
Birds' wings are thought to form from the fusion of the second, third and fourth digits on their hands as the embryo develops.
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For an alternative interpretation of Limusaurus, see our short note posted at nature precedings:
Vargas AO, Wagner GP, and Gauthier, JA. 2009 Limusaurus and bird digit identity. Available from Nature Precedings <http://hdl.handle.net/10101/npre.2009.3828.1>