Early Cretaceous Enantiornithes uncinate process morphology + dinosaur palaeontology progress and future directions
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Ben Creisler
Aug 12, 2026, 12:55:24 PM (yesterday) Aug 12
to DinosaurMa...@googlegroups.com
Ben Creisler
New papers:
Free pdf:
Pei-Chen Kuo, Yan Wang, Alexander D. Clark, Corwin Sullivan, Xiaoli Wang, Xiaoting Zheng & Jingmai K. O’Connor (2026)
Evolutionary and ecological correlates of avian uncinate process morphology: insight from a bizarre shape found in Early Cretaceous Enantiornithes
All Earth 38(1): 2711157
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/27669645.2026.2711157
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/27669645.2026.2711157
Free pdf:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/27669645.2026.2711157
The avian uncinate process, a bony projection of the thoracic ribs, has been linked to flight performance and physiology. Its morphology exhibits considerable shape variation, which is potentially driven by ecological factors. Here, we describe a new enantiornithine bird (specimen STM11-128) from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group with unusual uncinate processes and comprehensively compare shape variance of the uncinate process between Mesozoic stem avian clades and extant Neornithes. Using landmark-based geometric morphometric and phylogenetic comparative methods, we quantify morphological variation of the uncinate process and explore its relationship with key ecological features across a broad phylogenetic sampling. We found that shape variation of the uncinate process shows a weak association with the examined ecological categories. In contrast, uncinate process length shows a stronger association with several ecological attributes, suggesting that avian uncinate process length strongly influences its mechanical benefits, with little impact from its shape. Finally, when comparing morphological variation across different clades of non-neornithine Mesozoic birds and modern birds, Mesozoic avian uncinate processes are characterised by a slender profile, whereas the shape of neornithine uncinate processes shows significantly higher diversity. This at least partially reflects a sampling bias as these small processes are rarely preserved in fossils.
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Free pdf:
Pei-Chen Kuo, Yan Wang, Alexander D. Clark, Corwin Sullivan, Xiaoli Wang, Xiaoting Zheng & Jingmai K. O’Connor (2026)
Evolutionary and ecological correlates of avian uncinate process morphology: insight from a bizarre shape found in Early Cretaceous Enantiornithes
All Earth 38(1): 2711157
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/27669645.2026.2711157
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/27669645.2026.2711157
Free pdf:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/27669645.2026.2711157
The avian uncinate process, a bony projection of the thoracic ribs, has been linked to flight performance and physiology. Its morphology exhibits considerable shape variation, which is potentially driven by ecological factors. Here, we describe a new enantiornithine bird (specimen STM11-128) from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group with unusual uncinate processes and comprehensively compare shape variance of the uncinate process between Mesozoic stem avian clades and extant Neornithes. Using landmark-based geometric morphometric and phylogenetic comparative methods, we quantify morphological variation of the uncinate process and explore its relationship with key ecological features across a broad phylogenetic sampling. We found that shape variation of the uncinate process shows a weak association with the examined ecological categories. In contrast, uncinate process length shows a stronger association with several ecological attributes, suggesting that avian uncinate process length strongly influences its mechanical benefits, with little impact from its shape. Finally, when comparing morphological variation across different clades of non-neornithine Mesozoic birds and modern birds, Mesozoic avian uncinate processes are characterised by a slender profile, whereas the shape of neornithine uncinate processes shows significantly higher diversity. This at least partially reflects a sampling bias as these small processes are rarely preserved in fossils.
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Xing Xu, Paul Upchurch, Lindsay Zanno, Maria McNamara, Zichuan Qin & Mike Benton (2026)
Progress and future directions in dinosaur palaeontology
Nature Reviews Biodiversity (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44358-026-00191-9
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44358-026-00191-9
The origins of dinosaur palaeontology date back around 200 years. In the time since, the field has evolved into a highly popularized, interdisciplinary science. In this Review, we summarize the current understanding of dinosaur biology, ecology, biodiversity and macroevolution, focusing on examples of testable science. These examples illustrate the use of quantitative methods to analyse taxonomical, morphological, biogeochemical and other types of data from dinosaur fossils and associated geological and environmental sources, as well as comparative data from living animals. We demonstrate the ways in which dinosaur palaeontology influences scientific understanding of living organisms and how they, in turn, inform palaeontological research. Although dinosaur palaeontology faces the challenges imposed by an incomplete fossil record, an integrative approach combining different lines of evidence and cross-testing strategies enables data-driven identification of patterns and processes across a variety of topics in dinosaur ecology and evolution. New techniques and analytical tools to facilitate quantitative research, including artificial-intelligence-assisted collection of microanatomical and biomolecular data, promise to enhance researchers’ ability to investigate themes such as the structure and function of dinosaur-dominated terrestrial communities and ecosystems, and the association between dinosaur biodiversity and environmental change. Ultimately, palaeontology is a fossil-based scientific discipline, and so it is imperative to conduct fieldwork in data-poor geographical regions and geological periods.
Progress and future directions in dinosaur palaeontology
Nature Reviews Biodiversity (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44358-026-00191-9
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44358-026-00191-9
The origins of dinosaur palaeontology date back around 200 years. In the time since, the field has evolved into a highly popularized, interdisciplinary science. In this Review, we summarize the current understanding of dinosaur biology, ecology, biodiversity and macroevolution, focusing on examples of testable science. These examples illustrate the use of quantitative methods to analyse taxonomical, morphological, biogeochemical and other types of data from dinosaur fossils and associated geological and environmental sources, as well as comparative data from living animals. We demonstrate the ways in which dinosaur palaeontology influences scientific understanding of living organisms and how they, in turn, inform palaeontological research. Although dinosaur palaeontology faces the challenges imposed by an incomplete fossil record, an integrative approach combining different lines of evidence and cross-testing strategies enables data-driven identification of patterns and processes across a variety of topics in dinosaur ecology and evolution. New techniques and analytical tools to facilitate quantitative research, including artificial-intelligence-assisted collection of microanatomical and biomolecular data, promise to enhance researchers’ ability to investigate themes such as the structure and function of dinosaur-dominated terrestrial communities and ecosystems, and the association between dinosaur biodiversity and environmental change. Ultimately, palaeontology is a fossil-based scientific discipline, and so it is imperative to conduct fieldwork in data-poor geographical regions and geological periods.
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