@ARTICLE{TreeBASE2Ref20995, author = {Shang Zhou and Zhong-He Zhou and Jingmai K. O'Connor}, title = {A new basal beaked ornithurine bird from the Lower Cretaceous of western Liaoning, China.}, year = {2012}, keywords = {China; Early Cretaceous; Jianchang; Jiufotang Formation; Liaoning; beak; forked tail; ornithurine; rectrices}, doi = {}, url = {http://www.graemetlloyd.com/matr.html}, pmid = {}, journal = {Vertebrata PalAsiatica}, volume = {50}, number = {1}, pages = {9--24}, abstract = {We report a new species of basal ornithurine bird, Schizooura lii gen. et sp. nov., based on a well-preserved specimen from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation in Jianchang, western Liaoning, China. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that it is more derived than Jianchangornis and Archaeorhynchus, but more basal than all other known Jehol ornithurines. The new specimen preserves a unique suite of characters that differentiate it from other known taxa, including several features previously unreported in Early Cretaceous ornithurines, including a V-shaped furcula with a short hypocleidium, a rostrocaudally elongate unperforated sternum with deep caudal notches absent, and a deltopectoral crest that extends for half to the length of the humerus. The specimen preserves a nearly perfectly articulated skull that indicates the species was beaked and preserves details of the skull anatomy such as the premaxilla-frontal articulation. The most notable feature of this new specimen is the preservation of a feathered tail morphology previously unknown among Mesozoic birds. It is the second tail morphology known among early ornithurines, which have until now only preserved fan-shaped tails. The new specimen preserves a forked tail composed of elongate rectrices medially separated by a deep notch. This tail feather morphology in modern birds decreases aerodynamic efficiency relative to the fan-shaped tail, but increases chance of sexual reproduction. This discovery suggests that this tradeoff convergently evolved in basal members of Ornithurae, and is consisten with the wooded environment inferred for the Jehol.} }

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