Caption translation for Yanornis

["Michael A. Turton" <turton@ev1.net>]

I sent this to you privately, but all of the emails I sent bounced.  I
also sent you 
attachments with the Chinese in text format.  However, I suspect they
bounced as well, so I am sending this to the list.

> >
> > The caption over a photo of Yanornis posted at:
> > http://www.scichina.com/kz/0105/kzfm05.stm
> 
> OK!  Sorry to bother you yet again, but here is my translation of the
> caption, which is almost exactly like the abstract:
> 
> What is a [fan3 -nithes] and Shizhu?  After you find that, you can
> post it to the list if you like.
> 
> > Two important branches of birds existed in the Mesozoic. One was the diverse
> and numerous [fan ya?-nithes] which were wiped out at the end of the
> Cretaceous;
> the other were neornithes.  During the early Cretaceous they were less
> numerous,
>  and previously a complete specimen had not been found.  However,
> Yanornis,
> most closely related to modern birds, is one of the two almost
> completely
> preserved Liaoxi early Cretaceous fossil birds.  It is different from
> Shizhu,
>  Confuciornis, and other primitive birds, and belongs in neornithes.
> There
> are no obvious differences in its flight structures between Yanornis and
> modern birds.  Despite this, it preserves a number of primitive
> features,
> for example, its upper and lower jaws have teeth, it has more developed
> claws, and so on.  This indicates that the nearest ancestor of modern
> birds
> will be found in a later period.  Research in early Cretaceous
> neornithes
> not only enables us to broaden our understanding of the radiation of
> Mesozoic
> birds, but is also supremely important for our understanding of the
> 

Michael

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