Avian Ancestors

Abstract

As Chiappe (2009) pointed out, “Deciphering the origin of birds, namely, identifying the closest relatives to the most recent common ancestor of Archaeopteryx and modern birds, has been a matter of scientific debate and scrutiny throughout the history of evolutionary biology”. Although consensus exists among authors that birds evolved from coelurosaurian theropods, paleontologists still debate about the identification of the group of coelurosaurians that most closely approaches the common ancestor of birds.