A Precocial Avian Embryo from the Lower Cretaceous of China

doi:10.1126/science.1100000

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A Precocial Avian Embryo from the Lower Cretaceous of China

Zhonghe Zhou^* and Fucheng Zhang

An embryo of an enantiornithine bird has been recovered fromthe Lower Cretaceous rocks of Liaoning, in northeast China.The bird has a nearly complete articulated skeleton with feathersheet impressions and is enclosed in egg-shaped confines. Thetucking posture of the skeleton suggests that the embryo hadattained the final stage of development. The presence of well-developedwing and tail feather sheets indicates a precocial developmentalmode, supporting the hypothesis that precocial birds appearedbefore altricial birds.

Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Post Office Box 643, Beijing 100044, China.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: zhonghe{at}yeah.net

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