Bizarre’ bird-like dinosaur has scientists enthralled

Subject: Environment

Section: Species in news

Context:

Scientists said on September 6 they unearthed in Fujian Province the fossil of a Jurassic Period dinosaur they named Fujianvenator prodigiosus – a creature that sheds light on a critical evolutionary stage in the origin of birds.

Details:

A pheasant-sized and bird-like dinosaur with elongated legs and arms (like wings) inhabited southern China about 140-150 million years ago. The anatomy indicated that it either was a fast runner or a wader (shorebird) bird.
Around 150 million years ago in Germany, the oldest known bird Archaeopteryx- a crow-sized bird with teeth, a long bony tail, and no beak- rose from a lineage in late Jurassic period, of small feathered two-legged dinosaurs known as Theropods.
Birds survived the asteroid strike 66 million years ago that doomed their non-avian dinosaur comrades.

Fujianventor prodigiosus:

Member of a grouping called avialans that includes all birds and their closest non-avian dinosaur relatives.
The fossil is fairly complete but lacks the animal’s skull and parts of its feet, making it hard to interpret its diet and lifestyle.
Fujianvenator’s lower leg bone – the tibia – was twice as long as its thigh bone – the femur. Such dimensions are unique among theropods; it also had a long bony tail.
The forelimb is built like a bird’s wing, but with three claws on the fingers, which are absent from modern birds. So it can be called a wing but it is impossible to determine whether it could fly or not.