Living Dinosaurs: The Evolutionary History of Modern Birds .— Gareth Dyke and Gary Kaiser , Editors. 2011 . Wiley-Blackwell , Chichester, United Kingdom . xv + 422 pp., 8 color plates, 115 text figures, 5 tables, 5 appendices. ISBN 9780470656662 . eBook 9781119990451. Cloth, $129.95 (original) (raw)

Living dinosaurs: the evolutionary history of modern birds

2011

BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Glorified Dinosaurs. The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds by Luis M. Chiappe

Historical Biology, 2010

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Feathered Dinosaurs: The Origin of Birds

The Condor, 2009

An integrative approach to understanding bird origins

Science (New York, N.Y.), 2014

Recent discoveries of spectacular dinosaur fossils overwhelmingly support the hypothesis that birds are descended from maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs, and furthermore, demonstrate that distinctive bird characteristics such as feathers, flight, endothermic physiology, unique strategies for reproduction and growth, and a novel pulmonary system originated among Mesozoic terrestrial dinosaurs. The transition from ground-living to flight-capable theropod dinosaurs now probably represents one of the best-documented major evolutionary transitions in life history. Recent studies in developmental biology and other disciplines provide additional insights into how bird characteristics originated and evolved. The iconic features of extant birds for the most part evolved in a gradual and stepwise fashion throughout archosaur evolution. However, new data also highlight occasional bursts of morphological novelty at certain stages particularly close to the origin of birds and an unavoidable comple...

Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds Gregory S. Paul

The Auk, 2003

and London. ix + 460 pp., ISBN 0-8018-6763-0. Hardcover, $49.95.-Among the spate of recent books on the supposed origin of birds from theropod dinosaurs is that of artist and freelance "dinosaurologist" Gregory Paul, whose past work includes the controversial Predatory Dinosaurs of the World (1988), which featured a good dose of "feathered, hot-blooded dinosaurs" presaging their prevalence in the popular press over the past few years. This latest and equally controversial treatise argues that certain of the birdlike theropods are actually secondarily fl ightless birds, possibly closer to modern birds than is Archaeopteryx. Paul's attempted massive documentation includes 460 pages, with six appendices and dozens of stylized "Paulian" illustrations. Paul is a creative artist, and his illustrations of dinosaurs represent his personalized interpretation of their anatomies and lifestyles. For example, in Predatory Dinosaurs of the World he illustrated the giant sauropod Mamenchisaurus reared up on its hindlimbs, a feat almost inconceivable for that creature given its size and lack of complex epiphyses on its long bones. Although Predatory Dinosaurs, his fi rst book, was published in 1988, before the discovery of so-called feathered dinosaurs, his illustrations depicted theropods from the late Triassic coelurosaur Coelophysis to the late Cretaceous Velociraptor adorned with feathers. Even in the late Triassic, the 235-my-old protodinosaur Lagosuchus sports feathers on the back and head. Speaking of the small-sized Lagosuchus, Paul notes, "This size squeeze probably marked the evolution of a fully avian-mammalian physiology" (p. 240). The implication, of course, is that all dinosaurs were fully endothermic and feathered. And, that same general theme carries over into his current magnum opus. Not surprisingly, Paul fi nds no evidence for avian cranial kinesis or birdlike feathers in the skull of Archaeopteryx, contrary to detailed work of many

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