A beaked bird from the Jurassic of China

DISCOVERY of avian remains close to the age of Archaeopteryx in the Liaoning Province of northeastern China provides the earliest evidence for a beaked, edentulous bird. The associated wing skeleton retains the primitive pattern found in Archaeopteryx, including a manus with unfused carpal elements and long digits. Two leg skeletons from the same site also show an Archaeopteryxlevel of morphology, and provide the earliest indisputable evidence...