High troodont (Theropoda: Troodontidae) diversity in the Tiaojishan Formation, Liaoning Province, China, and the evolution of avian characters

Abstract

Since the discovery of Archaeopteryx lithographica, a primitive bird with dinosaurian characteristics, in 1861 some scientists suspected that birds were descendant from dinosaurs. From 1969 onwards this hypothesis has been accepted by the majority of palaeontologists and they suspected that feathered dinosaurs existed. This was finally confirmed in 1996 by the discovery of a dinosaur with a fuzzy, featherlike covering, Sinosauropteryx prima. Since this discovery many more feathered dinosaurs and primitive birds have been discovered in western Liaoning Province (China) and the research for the evolution of feathers and flight has taken major steps forwards. The material that is known at this moment mainly dates from the Lower Cretaceous and later periods in time, but the oldest known birds, such as A. lithographica predate this period, dating from the Upper Jurassic, approximately 150 Ma. In this thesis three Troodontidae specimens with feathers from the Middle to Upper Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation, Liaoning Province have been described. These specimens were compared to each other, Anchiornis huxleyi, Mei long and A. lithographica. Two specimens were identified as new species

Date of Award	30 Jun 2011
Original language	English
Supervisor	Philippe Claeys (Promotor) & Pascal Godefroit (Co-promotor)