An exceptionally preserved Lower Cretaceous ecosystem

Fieldwork in the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group, northeastern China has revealed a plethora of extraordinarily well-preserved fossils that are shaping some of the most contentious debates in palaeontology and evolutionary biology. These discoveries include feathered theropod dinosaurs and early birds,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2003-02, Vol.421 (6925), p.807-814
Main Authors: Zhou, Zhonghe, Barrett, Paul M., Hilton, Jason
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Aves
Biological Evolution
Biota
Birds
Birds - anatomy & histology
Birds - classification
Birds - physiology
China
Cretaceous
Dinosauria
Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs - anatomy & histology
Dinosaurs - classification
Dinosaurs - physiology
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Ecosystem
Ecosystems
Evolution
Exact sciences and technology
Fieldwork
Fossils
Humanities and Social Sciences
Invertebrates - anatomy & histology
Invertebrates - classification
Invertebrates - physiology
Magnoliophyta
Mammalia
multidisciplinary
Paleontology
Phylogeny
Plants
review-article
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Vertebrate paleontology
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Summary:Fieldwork in the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group, northeastern China has revealed a plethora of extraordinarily well-preserved fossils that are shaping some of the most contentious debates in palaeontology and evolutionary biology. These discoveries include feathered theropod dinosaurs and early birds, which provide additional, indisputable support for the dinosaurian ancestry of birds, and much new evidence on the evolution of feathers and flight. Specimens of putative basal angiosperms and primitive mammals are clarifying details of the early radiations of these major clades. Detailed soft-tissue preservation of the organisms from the Jehol Biota is providing palaeobiological insights that would not normally be accessible from the fossil record.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/nature01420