Avian Evolution: The Fossil Record of Birds and its Paleobiological Significance [Hardcover]

Knowledge of the evolutionary history of birds has much improved in recent decades. Fossils from critical time periods are being described at unprecedented rates and modern phylogenetic analyses have provided a framework for the interrelationships of the extant groups. This book gives an overview of the avian fossil record and its paleobiological significance, and it is the only up-to-date textbook that covers both Mesozoic and more modern-type Cenozoic birds in some detail. The reader is introduced to key features of basal avians and the morphological transformations that have occurred in the evolution towards modern birds. An account of the Cenozoic fossil record sheds light on the biogeographic history of the extant avian groups and discusses fossils in the context of current phylogenetic hypotheses. This review of the evolutionary history of birds not only addresses students and established researchers, but it may also be a useful source of information for anyone else with an interest in the evolution of birds and a moderate background in biology and geology.

Foreword ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Birds, the Geological Settings of Their Evolution, and the Avian Skeleton 1

Birds Are Evolutionarily Nested within Theropod Dinosaurs 2

The Geological Settings of Avian Evolution in a Nutshell 4

Characteristics of the Avian Skeleton 6

Chapter 2 The Origin of Birds 18

Archaeopteryx: The German Urvogel and Its Bearing on Avian Evolution 19

The Closest Maniraptoran Relatives of Birds 22

Feather Evolution 32

The Origin of Avian Flight 37

Chapter 3 The Mesozoic Flight Way towards Modern Birds 43

Jeholornithids: Ealó'