Protopteryx fengningensis

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Posté par Ceratosaure il y a 18 ans

Une équipe de scientifiques chinois a annoncé la découverte d'un nouvel oiseau primitif Protopteryx fengningensis . Il a été retrouvé dans la provinece de
heibei dans des roches du crétacé de 120 millions d'année .

A team of Chinese scientists recently announced the discovery of one of the earliest birds ever found, a discovery that has heated up the ongoing debate among scientists as to whether birds evolved from dinosaurs.

The fossil bird in question, named Protopteryx fengningensis, was found in 120-million-year-old Cretaceous Period rocks in the Chinese province of Hebei. It was officially named by Fucheng Zhang and Zhonghe Zhou, paleontologists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in the December issue of the scientific journal Science.

The small bird, which clearly flew, was covered with feathers and had a special adaptation to the pelvis which likely helped it fly. This special pelvis is a structure seen in many modern birds, including hawks and other perching birds, that are good fliers.

"More important than the pelvis are the feathers," says Zhou. "These well-preserved feathers have many scale-like qualities, showing that the feathers seen in modern birds evolved from reptilian scales."

Along with his co-author, Zhou says that modern feathers likely evolved during three distinct stages: scales grew longer and developed a type of long, central support tube; they began to sprout hair-like appendages; and finally developed a complex network of these hair-like appendages.

The fossilized bird helps scientists develop a more complete picture of a rich Cretaceous ecosystem, says Philip J. Currie, curator of dinosaurs at Canada's Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology and head of the Jurassic Park Foundation. "Especially remarkable is the diversity of birds, which seem to have been going through explosive diversification after their appearance in the Late Jurassic," he adds.

To Zhou, these feathers prove conclusively that birds evolved from dinosaurs, and that feathers evolved from scales, but some other scientists do dispute his findings. One paleontologist, Alan Feduccia of the University of North Carolina, thinks that these imprints seen on Protopteryx support his theory that the ancestor for birds lived before dinosaurs and was not related to dinosaurs. He feels that recent fossil discoveries which are interpreted as dinosaur with feathers, do not represent feathers at all. These dinosaurs has what Feduccia callsl dino-fuzz, "which really could have nothing to do with the origin of feathers," he said.

Posté par Lolo il y a 18 ans

Euh ... celui là date de 2000 ...

Merci quand même !

Posté par Ceratosaure il y a 18 ans

Hin c'est dans les news de jpinstitute je rève !!!

Posté par Afrovenator il y a 18 ans

Ce site n'est jamais actualiser

Posté par Ceratosaure il y a 18 ans

Je viens de m'en rendre compte ouai

Posté par Carcharo il y a 18 ans

Citation de Afrovenator: Ce site n'est jamais actualiser

C'est dommage, il est super ce site.

Posté par Carcharodontosaurus il y a 18 ans

En tout cas moi je me mefie des dinosaures chinois parce que je sais plus quand on a retrouvé un tout nouveau specimen de raptor qui chmboulait d'importantes théories.
Plein de paleontologue anglais y ont cru sauf un qui (avec acharnement) a prouvé que ce specimen etait un faux qui etait le resultat d'un "colmatage" de plusieur especes.
Donc en chine ils peuvent faire de faux dinosaures tres ressemblant