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,

Pinpointing when birds diverged completely from dinosaurs has long remained a paleontological mystery.

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

The short-tailed find with the forelimb of a raptor is an extremely rare example of the transition from dinosaurs to birds Chinese palaeontologists have found what could be the world's oldest bird fossil,

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.

Fuzhou: A short-tailed bird fossil, stated to be the oldest dating back about 150 million years, was discovered by Chinese scientists in east China’s Fujian Province shedding a new light on the origin of the birds,

This discovery strengthens the idea that birds had already begun to diversify by the late Jurassic period. The presence of Baminornis zhenghensis suggests that key bird features, such as shorter tails, evolved much earlier than previously believed.

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

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.