Zhengheornis, new avialan from Upper Jurassic of China (free pdf)
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Ben Creisler
Jul 1, 2026, 2:29:59 PM (yesterday) Jul 1
to DinosaurMa...@googlegroups.com
Ben Creisler
A new paper:
Zhengheornis buyu gen. et sp. nov.
Min Wang, Jianrong Tang, Ke Deng, Liping Dong, Liming Xu, Xing Xu, Min Lin, Honggang Du, Ganmin Lin, Runsheng Chen, Chi Zhang, and Zhonghe Zhou (2026)
Jurassic avialan reveals stepwise evolution of bony tail in birds
Science Advances 12(27): eaeb5202
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aeb5202
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeb5202
Free pdf:
https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/sciadv.aeb5202
The evolutionary assembly of the flight-adapted bird body plan encompasses some of the most profound morphological changes in terrestrial vertebrate history. Beyond feathered wings, the short pygostyle-bearing tail has been pivotal to the clade’s ecological success. However, transition from the long bony tail to the short pygostyle-bearing tail remains a mystery, hindered by the scarcity of early branching avialans with transitional morphologies. Here, we report on a new avialan, Zhengheornis buyu, gen. et sp. nov., from the Upper Jurassic of southeastern China, suggesting that the vertebral reduction and shortening preceded pygostyle fusion in early avialan evolution, providing critical evidence for the stepwise evolution of the bird tail. Z. buyu is smaller than all known non-pygostylian paravians, expanding the species and body size diversity of stemward taxa.
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Free pdf:
Zhengheornis buyu gen. et sp. nov.
Min Wang, Jianrong Tang, Ke Deng, Liping Dong, Liming Xu, Xing Xu, Min Lin, Honggang Du, Ganmin Lin, Runsheng Chen, Chi Zhang, and Zhonghe Zhou (2026)
Jurassic avialan reveals stepwise evolution of bony tail in birds
Science Advances 12(27): eaeb5202
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aeb5202
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeb5202
Free pdf:
https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/sciadv.aeb5202
The evolutionary assembly of the flight-adapted bird body plan encompasses some of the most profound morphological changes in terrestrial vertebrate history. Beyond feathered wings, the short pygostyle-bearing tail has been pivotal to the clade’s ecological success. However, transition from the long bony tail to the short pygostyle-bearing tail remains a mystery, hindered by the scarcity of early branching avialans with transitional morphologies. Here, we report on a new avialan, Zhengheornis buyu, gen. et sp. nov., from the Upper Jurassic of southeastern China, suggesting that the vertebral reduction and shortening preceded pygostyle fusion in early avialan evolution, providing critical evidence for the stepwise evolution of the bird tail. Z. buyu is smaller than all known non-pygostylian paravians, expanding the species and body size diversity of stemward taxa.
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