Researchers have discovered a 149-million-year-old bird fossil in southeastern China, featuring a short tail structure that could rewrite the evolutionary history of birds. As detailed in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature,

Scientists have discovered the oldest bird fossil shedding light on birds' origin in China, and reshaping the timeline of bird evolution.

A research team led by Professor Wang Min from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has discovered two bird fossils in Jurassic-era rocks from Fujian Province in southeast China.

Scientists have unearthed in southeastern China the fossil of a quail-sized bird that lived about 150 million years ago during the Jurassic Period and possessed surprisingly modern traits, a discovery that rewrites the history of avian evolution.

The bird has a short tail ending in a pygostyle, an important aerodynamic innovation moving the center of mass forward toward the wings.

Two fossils suggest that birds were thriving and diversifying in China as the Jurassic Period closed, new research reveals. Given the contentiousness of avian origins, however, the debate may have a fair way to run.

This discovery extends the timeline for the evolution of key bird features by millions of years. “Previously, the oldest record of short-tailed birds is from the Early Cretaceou