April Fowls: Archaeopteryx and Dinosaur Evolution

A new troodontid with a skull like a pachycephalosaur, two new prehistoric birds, the bird evolutionary tree, how birds developed the ability to fly, how we know Microraptor turned out to be a decent flier, and a mathematical rule that shapes theropod faces

For links to every news story, all of the details we shared about Archaeopteryx , and our fun fact check out https://iknowdino.com/Archaeopteryx -Episode-562/

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Dinosaur of the day Archaeopteryx , the "ancient wing" dinosaur that was originally named for just a single feather, but is now known from over a dozen individuals.

In dinosaur news this week:

• A new troodontid theropod, Xenovenator espinosai, has an extremely thick skull—like a pachycephalosaur
• Scientists have created a complete evolutionary tree of all birds (over 9,000 species)
• There’s a new neoavian Aequornithes bird from Antarctica, Pujatopouli soberana
• There is a new euornithean bird, Kunpengornis anhuimusei, that has gut contents!
• How the structure of feathers in the Cretaceous tells us about their evolution
• The specialization of a small wrist bone, the pisiform, helps birds to fly
• A key wing muscle that helps birds fly appears to have evolved by fusing cells from multiple muscles
• How often birds, bats, and insects flap when flying may be related to a built in constraint related to the vortex their wings generate with each flap
• More Microraptor specimens (with soft tissues!) show it was a decent flier
• A set of raptor dinosaur tracks indirectly shows it used its arms to help it run faster
• Just because a theropod dinosaur had short arms and not many fingers, doesn’t mean their hands and arms were useless
• Birds have a special organ to help them balance (which doesn't seem to matter as much for flight)
• Birds have been nesting in the Arctic for at least 73 million years
• How theropod dinosaur (non-avian and bird) faces are shaped may have followed a mathematical rule
• A study of the Chicago Archaeopteryx found that could definitely fly
• Birds need a lot of calories to fly, and Archaeopteryx, the oldest known bird, has three features modern birds also have to eat efficiently

This episode is brought to you by the Colorado Northwestern Community College. Join them for two weeks digging up dinosaur bones in the field, preparing fossils in their lab, or in their new field geology program. For details go to CNCC.edu/paleo26

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