Tag Archive for 'Neornithes'

An illustration of Cretaceous period birds with other dinosaurs from the same time period in the background. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.

73-Million-Year-Old Fossils Provide Oldest Evidence of Birds Nesting at Polar Latitudes

May 30, 2025 by News Staff

Polar ecosystems are structured and enriched by birds, which nest there seasonally and serve as keystone ecosystem members. Despite the ecological importance...

Primary sequential molt in Microraptor; the arrow indicates the location of the molt-related gap within the primary feathers. Scale bar - 10 cm. Image credit: Y. Kiat & J.K. O’Connor, doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-05048-x.

Rarity of Molt Evidence in Feathered Dinosaurs Suggests Annual Molt Evolved Later among Flying Birds

Jul 6, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Feathers are a primitive trait among pennaraptoran dinosaurs, which today are represented by living birds, the only clade of dinosaurs to survive the end-Cretaceous...