Background The origin of birds from non-avian theropod dinosaur ancestors required a
comprehensive restructuring of the body plan to enable the evolution of powered flight. One …

Bird necks display unparalleled levels of morphological diversity compared to other
vertebrates, yet it is unclear what factors have structured this variation. Using three …

The neck is a critical portion of the avian spine, one that works in tandem with the beak to act
as a surrogate forelimb and allows birds to manipulate their surroundings despite the lack of …

Birds show tremendous ecological disparity in spite of strong biomechanical constraints
imposed by flight. Modular skeletal evolution is generally accepted to have facilitated this …

Mosaic evolution, which results from multiple influences shaping morphological traits and
can lead to the presence of a mixture of ancestral and derived characteristics, has been …

Macroevolution is integral to understanding the patterns of the diversification of life. As the
life sciences increasingly use big data approaches, large multivariate datasets are required …

High disparity among avian forelimb and hind limb segments in crown birds relative to non-
avialan theropod dinosaurs, potentially driven by the origin of separate forelimb and hind …

The neck connects the head and the trunk and is the key structure allowing all movements of
the head. The neck morphology of birds is the most variable among living tetrapods …

Despite a diversity of about 10 000 extant species, the sophisticated avian 'body plan'has
not much changed once it was achieved around 160 Ma after the origin of powered flight. All …

In birds, the quadrate connects the mandible and skull, and plays an important role in cranial
kinesis. Avian quadrate morphology may therefore be assumed to have been influenced by …