Jurassic bird fossil discovery of a species named Baminornis zhenghensis pushes bird evolution timeline back 20 million years.

“This fossil (Baminornis) indicates that Jurassic birds probably already had a global distribution and were much more diversified than previously thought,” said paleontologist and study co-author Zhonghe Zhou of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in China.

Scientists have discovered the oldest bird fossil shedding light on birds' origin in China, and reshaping the timeline of bird evolution.

Scientists have unearthed in southeastern China the fossil of a quail-sized bird that lived about 150 million years ago during the Jurassic Period and possessed surprisingly modern traits, a discovery that rewrites the history of avian evolution.

The Archaeopteryx, the fossils of which were first discovered around 1860, belonged to the Late Jurassic period and was once considered the earliest bird. However, its long tail and primitive features led some scientists to question its classification as a bird. Instead, they suggested that it belonged to a group of bird-like dinosaurs.

The fossil of B. zhenghensis, a bird from the late Middle Jurassic period, was unveiled by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, alongside the Fujian Institute of Geological Survey, on Thursday.

FUZHOU, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have unearthed the oldest short-tailed bird fossil, dating back about 150 million years, in east China's Fujian Province. This suggests that birds might have originated earlier than previously thought.

A newly discovered fossil provides strong evidence that modern birds lived alongside dinosaurs. The 69-million-year-old skull of Vegavis iaai, found in Antarctica, features a toothless beak and a brain structure similar to that of present-day birds.

The discovery of a 6-inch (15 cm) fossil of a small bird, 150 million years old, reveals unexpected modern anatomical features. This fossil, named Baminornis zhenghensis, challenges our

Does a duck always look like a duck and quack like a duck? Sixty-six million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period, an asteroid impact near the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico triggered the extinction of all known non-avian dinosaurs.