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Ron Buckley wrote-
> Last year fossils of small dinosaurs were found with
feathers which helped prove that birds evolved from
> dinosaurs. Can anyone help me with how many million years
old these fossils represented . Also the approximate > millions of years of
evolution until we have birds.
The age of the feathered coelurosaurs is probably Middle
Barremian (125.34-125.59 mya), in the Early Cretaceous (Wang et al.,
1999).
Birds in the form of Archaeopteryx first appear in the Early
Kimmeridgian (~155 mya) of the Late Jurassic, before the known feathered
dinosaurs. More derived birds with pygostyles (Noguerornis, Spanish
nestling enantiornithine) show up in the Late Hauterivian-Early Barremian (~127
mya), a bit before the feathered dinosaurs are known.
Mickey Mortimer
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