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Science 22 October 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5696, p. 653
DOI: 10.1126/science.1100000
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Brevia

A Precocial Avian Embryo from the Lower Cretaceous of China

Zhonghe Zhou* and Fucheng Zhang

An embryo of an enantiornithine bird has been recovered from the Lower Cretaceous rocks of Liaoning, in northeast China. The bird has a nearly complete articulated skeleton with feather sheet impressions and is enclosed in egg-shaped confines. The tucking posture of the skeleton suggests that the embryo had attained the final stage of development. The presence of well-developed wing and tail feather sheets indicates a precocial developmental mode, supporting the hypothesis that precocial birds appeared before 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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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)