Xiaotingia
Name:
Xiaotingia
(In honour of Zheng Xiaoting when combined with type species name)
Phonetic: Zhow-tin-gee-ah.
Named By: Xu et al - 2011.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Paraves, Deinonychosauria,
Archaeopterygidae.
Species: X. zhengi.
Type: Carnivore/Insectivore.
Size: Approximately 60 centimetres long.
Known locations: China, Liaoning Province -
Tiaojishan Formation.
Time period: Bathonian to Oxfordian to Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Almost complete skeleton that
is still arituclated.
The
discovery of Xiaotingia caused some upset in the
paleontological
community because of its similarities to the world famous Archaeopteryx
which has been hailed as the first bird since its discovery in 1861.
This is because Xiaotingia is thought to be
a dinosaur that is similar
to a bird rather than a bird that is similar to a dinosaur. If those
definitions seem blurry then that’s because they are and therein lays
the problem of establishing the first 'true' bird.
Palaeontologists
are split on whether or not Archaeopteryx was the
first bird or the
dinosaur that that preceded it, and were so for a long time before
the discovery of Xiaotingia, although Xiaotingia
does seem to point
towards Archaeopteryx being closer to dinosaurs.
Although there are
many points of Xiaotingia that point to it being
closer to dinosaurs,
one bit of evidence that was mentioned by Xu Xing when talking about
the discovery was the presence of an extensible second pedo-digit;
The part that would become the trademark characteristic of the
deinonychosaurs like Deinonychus
and Velociraptor.
Ultimately
the understanding of birds and their exact origin in dinosaurs will
only be settled with further fossil material and study. While the
discovery of Xiaotingia has cast doubt upon Archaeopteryx
being the
first bird, new discoveries may yet cast doubt on Xiaotingia
being a
dinosaur.
Further reading
- An Archaeopteryx-like theropod from China and the
origin of Avialae.
- Nature. 475 (7357). - Xing Xu, Hailu You, Kai Du & Fenglu Han
- 2011.
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