RE: New bird evolution papers cont.

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

That should read:

Zhou Z.H. and Zhang F.C. (2004).  Mesozoic birds of China: an introduction 
and review.  Acta Zoologica Sinica.  50(6): 913-920.

ABSTRACT: Over the last decade, more Mesozoic birds have been discovered 
from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning Province in northeast China than from 
any other region on earth. Chinese Mesozoic birds represent the earliest 
significant avian diversification yet known after the oldest known bird 
Archaeopteryx appeared in the fossil record about 20 million years earlier. 
They not only include a long-tailed form reminiscent of dinosaurian ancestry 
but also comprise many other special or derived forms, such as the 
oldest-known beaked bird, the largest Early Cretaceous bird, the most 
primitive enantiornithine bird and the best preserved ornithurine bird, with 
a flight apparatus nearly identical to that of modern birds. Remarkable 
evolutionary, morphological and ecological differentation, such as in 
flight, size and diet, are well documented by the Chinese fossils. The 
long-tailed, basal bird Jeholornis bears a remarkable resemblance to 
dromaeosaur dinosaurs, thus providing important clues in support of the 
dinosaurian origin of birds. Chinese Early Cretaceous birds, as well as 
arboreal dinosaurs of the same age in China, also provide compelling 
evidence for the arboreal hypothesis of the origin of avian flight. The 
'Dinosaur-trees-down' hypothesis, which combines the dinosaurian origin of 
birds and the arboreal hypothesis of avian flight, is thus well 
collaborated. Because feathers were present in various dinosaurs, the 
association of endothermy with feathers becomes purely speculative; 
endothermy probably did not develop in birds until the Early Cretaceous.