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An exceptionally preserved Lower Cretaceous ecosystem

Author

Listed:
  • Zhonghe Zhou

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Paul M. Barrett

    (University of Oxford
    The Natural History Museum)

  • Jason Hilton

    (National Museums of Scotland)

Abstract

Fieldwork in the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group, northeastern China has revealed a plethora of extraordinarily well-preserved fossils that are shaping some of the most contentious debates in palaeontology and evolutionary biology. These discoveries include feathered theropod dinosaurs and early birds, which provide additional, indisputable support for the dinosaurian ancestry of birds, and much new evidence on the evolution of feathers and flight. Specimens of putative basal angiosperms and primitive mammals are clarifying details of the early radiations of these major clades. Detailed soft-tissue preservation of the organisms from the Jehol Biota is providing palaeobiological insights that would not normally be accessible from the fossil record.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhonghe Zhou & Paul M. Barrett & Jason Hilton, 2003. "An exceptionally preserved Lower Cretaceous ecosystem," Nature, Nature, vol. 421(6925), pages 807-814, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:421:y:2003:i:6925:d:10.1038_nature01420
    DOI: 10.1038/nature01420
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    Cited by:

    1. Michael Pittman & Phil R. Bell & Case Vincent Miller & Nathan J. Enriquez & Xiaoli Wang & Xiaoting Zheng & Leah R. Tsang & Yuen Ting Tse & Michael Landes & Thomas G. Kaye, 2022. "Exceptional preservation and foot structure reveal ecological transitions and lifestyles of early theropod flyers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Yaser Saffar Talori & Jing-Shan Zhao & Yun-Fei Liu & Wen-Xiu Lu & Zhi-Heng Li & Jingmai Kathleen O'Connor, 2019. "Identification of avian flapping motion from non-volant winged dinosaurs based on modal effective mass analysis," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-16, May.

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