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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
A Jurassic ceratosaur from China helps clarify avian digital homologies
Nature, Volume 459, No. 7249, Year 2009
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Description
Theropods have traditionally been assumed to have lost manual digits from the lateral side inward, which differs from the bilateral reduction pattern seen in other tetrapod groups. This unusual reduction pattern is clearly present in basal theropods, and has also been inferred in non-avian tetanurans based on identification of their three digits as the medial ones of the hand (I-II-III). This contradicts the many developmental studies indicating II-III-IV identities for the three manual digits of the only extant tetanurans, the birds. Here we report a new basal ceratosaur from the Oxfordian stage of the Jurassic period of China (156-161 million years ago), representing the first known Asian ceratosaur and the only known beaked, herbivorous Jurassic theropod. Most significantly, this taxon possesses a strongly reduced manual digit I, documenting a complex pattern of digital reduction within the Theropoda. Comparisons among theropod hands show that the three manual digits of basal tetanurans are similar in many metacarpal features to digits II-III-IV, but in phalangeal features to digits I-II-III, of more basal theropods. Given II-III-IV identities in avians, the simplest interpretation is that these identities were shared by all tetanurans. The transition to tetanurans involved complex changes in the hand including a shift in digit identities, with ceratosaurs displaying an intermediate condition. © 2009 Macmillan Publishers Limited.
Authors & Co-Authors
Xu, Xing
China, Beijing
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Chinese Academy of Sciences
Clark, James Matthew
United States, Washington, D.c.
The George Washington University
Mo, Jinyou
China, Wuhan
China University of Geosciences
Choiniere, Jonah N.
United States, Washington, D.c.
The George Washington University
Forster, Catherine A.
United States, Washington, D.c.
The George Washington University
Erickson, Gregory M.
United States, Tallahassee
Florida State University
Sullivan, Corwin
China, Beijing
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Chinese Academy of Sciences
Eberth, David A.
Canada, Drumheller
Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology
Nesbitt, Sterling J.
United States, New York
American Museum of Natural History
Zhao, Qi
China, Beijing
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Chinese Academy of Sciences
Han, Fenglu
China, Beijing
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Chinese Academy of Sciences
China, Beijing
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Statistics
Citations: 179
Authors: 11
Affiliations: 9
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1038/nature08124
ISSN:
14764687