Morphological characteristics of Confuciusornis and Sinosauropteryx

From the end of 1996 to the spring of 1997, many international news media rushed to report on the discovery of two primitive "bird" fossils in the Beipiao area of Liaoning Province, China-Confucius Birds and Sinosauropteryx.

The shape of Confuciusornis has many similar features to the German Archaeopteryx. For example, the skull is not completely healed, the humerus is longer than the radius, and the hands have three clawed fingers, etc. The Confucius Bird is about the size of a chicken, has no teeth in its upper and lower jaws, and has a developed horny beak; its vertebrae have degenerated, its sternum has developed, and its tail is very short. From an evolutionary perspective, the morphological characteristics of Confuciusornis are more advanced than Archaeopteryx, and it should have lived later than Archaeopteryx. However, researcher Hou Lianhai of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a researcher of Confucius Birds, originally believed that the shape of Confucius Birds was similar to that of Shangzhongnong, and that their ages were roughly the same, that is, they were both about 140 million years ago. Late Jurassic period years ago.

Not long after Confucius Bird was made public as famous as Archaeopteryx, a bird that was considered to be more primitive became a hot topic again. This is the Sinosauropteryx, which has long been familiar to everyone. Its researchers Ji Qiang, a researcher at the China Geological Museum, believes that the era of Sinosauropteryx is earlier than the era of Confucius Birds, and Sinosauropteryx is the ancestor of birds.

Restored statue of Confucius bird

The successive discoveries of Confucius Birds and Sinosauropteryx and the resulting disputes about the ancestors of birds caused an uproar around the world, which directly led to the attention of Chinese and foreign scientists to the western Liaoning region in the following years and a series of related major discoveries. Although the age of Confuciusornis has been redefined as the early Cretaceous, and Sinosaurus has been redefined as a carnivorous small theropod dinosaur, objectively speaking, it is precisely because of their discovery, study and Being debated has ignited the passion of the entire paleontological community to re-understand the origin of birds. Therefore, the discovery of Confucius Birds and Sinosauropteryx undoubtedly played a huge role in promoting the development of paleontology.

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