Evolvability is best addressed from a multi-level, macroevolutionary perspective through a
comparative approach that tests for among-clade differences in phenotypic diversification in …

Birds are some of the most diverse organisms on Earth, with species inhabiting a wide
variety of niches across every major biome. As such, birds are vital to our understanding of …

The bony palate diagnoses the two deepest clades of extant birds: Neognathae and
Palaeognathae,,,–. Neognaths exhibit unfused palate bones and generally kinetic skulls …

In amniotes, the predominant developmental strategy underlying body size evolution is
thought to be adjustments to the rate of growth rather than its duration. However, most …

Ichthyornis has long been recognized as a pivotally important fossil taxon for understanding
the latest stages of the dinosaur–bird transition, but little significant new postcranial material …

Among terrestrial vertebrates, only crown birds (Neornithes) rival mammals in terms of
relative brain size and behavioural complexity. Relatedly, the anatomy of the avian central …

The Cretaceous is a critical time interval that encompasses explosive diversifications of
terrestrial vertebrates, particularly the period when the earliest-branching birds, after …

The origin of crown birds (Neornithes) remains contentious owing to conflicting divergence
time hypotheses obtained from alternative sources of data. The fossil record suggests limited …

The transformation of the bird skull from an ancestral akinetic, heavy, and toothed
dinosaurian morphology to a highly derived, lightweight, edentulous, and kinetic skull is an …

The Maevarano Formation in northwestern Madagascar has yielded a series of exceptional
fossils over the course of the last three decades that provide important insights into the …