The reporter learned from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on the 3rd that Chinese scientists found a new Cretaceous bird with dinosaur skull and strange body in the Jehol Biota of western Liaoning, named "Zhushi Craton Bird". This discovery provides new fossil evidence for understanding how birds evolved from dinosaurs and evolved unique morphological features. Relevant achievements were published in the international journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. According to the researchers, in the Mesozoic Era, including the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous, the evolution of bird diversity mainly occurred in the bird breast, which is composed of anti birds and modern birds. At that time, the bird chest class had evolved a large number of morphological characteristics similar to those of living birds, which were very different from the primitive birds Archaeopteryx in morphology. The non bird breasted birds (referred to as basic birds) whose evolutionary position is between the two provide important information for filling this gap. The Zhushi Craton bird discovered this time is a new genus and species belonging to the basic bird family Heronidae. The study found that the craton was both primitive and progressive. "It is similar to theropod dinosaurs in terms of skull morphology, and has the structure of double temporal foramen of primitive main dinosaurs. These primitive features indicate that cratonic birds have not evolved the skull mobility that most birds have." Wang Min, the corresponding author of the paper and researcher of the Institute of Paleovertebrae, Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced. Skull mobility, that is, the upper jaw can move independently of the brain and jaw. This feature has appeared in modern bird types, which is an important reason for birds to use their beaks to complete a large number of fine movements. On the contrary, the retrocephalic skeleton of cratonic birds has a large number of progressive features of birds, including ossified sternum, lengthened forelimbs, shortened tailbone, and opposite gripped feet, which indicates that their skulls and bodies have modular evolutionary characteristics, and the skulls, especially the temporal and palatal regions, are relatively conservative in evolution. In addition, the body structure of Craton is also very strange, with an abnormally long scapula and the first metatarsal bone (equivalent to the innermost bone of the foot). The scapula is an important part of birds' flight structure. This study suggests that the lengthened and predatory scapula of craton may be an attempt to adapt to flight, so as to expand the attachment area of muscles controlling downward flapping wings. At the same time, the relative length of the first metatarsal bone of cratonic birds is far longer than that of other birds and most dinosaurs, which may be related to their ecological habits similar to raptors. (Outlook New Times)