Reconsidering the Avian Nature of the Oviraptorosaur Brain (Dinosauria: Theropoda)

The high degree of encephalization characterizing modern birds is the product of a long evolutionary history, our understanding of which is still largely in its infancy. Here we provide a redescription of the endocranial space of the oviraptorosaurian dinosaur Conchoraptor gracilis with the goal of...

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Main Authors:	Balanoff, Amy M., Bever, G. S., Norell, Mark A.
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Public Library of Science 2014
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4262302/

id	pubmed-4262302
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-42623022014-12-15 Reconsidering the Avian Nature of the Oviraptorosaur Brain (Dinosauria: Theropoda) Balanoff, Amy M. Bever, G. S. Norell, Mark A. Research Article The high degree of encephalization characterizing modern birds is the product of a long evolutionary history, our understanding of which is still largely in its infancy. Here we provide a redescription of the endocranial space of the oviraptorosaurian dinosaur Conchoraptor gracilis with the goal of assessing the hypothesis that it shares uniquely derived endocranial characters with crown-group avians. The existence of such features has implications for the transformational history of avian neuroanatomy and suggests that the oviraptorosaur radiation is a product of the immediate stem lineage of birds—after the divergence of Archaeopteryx lithographica. Results derived from an expanded comparative sample indicate that the strong endocranial similarity between Conchoraptor and modern birds largely reflects shared conservation of plesiomorphic features. The few characters that are maintained as being uniquely expressed in these two taxa are more likely products of convergence than homology but still indicate that the oviraptorosaur endocranial cavity has much to teach us about the complex history of avian brain evolution. Public Library of Science 2014-12-10 /pmc/articles/PMC4262302/ /pubmed/25494183 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0113559 Text en © 2014 Balanoff et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Balanoff, Amy M. Bever, G. S. Norell, Mark A.
spellingShingle	Balanoff, Amy M. Bever, G. S. Norell, Mark A. Reconsidering the Avian Nature of the Oviraptorosaur Brain (Dinosauria: Theropoda)
author_facet	Balanoff, Amy M. Bever, G. S. Norell, Mark A.
author_sort	Balanoff, Amy M.
title	Reconsidering the Avian Nature of the Oviraptorosaur Brain (Dinosauria: Theropoda)
title_short	Reconsidering the Avian Nature of the Oviraptorosaur Brain (Dinosauria: Theropoda)
title_full	Reconsidering the Avian Nature of the Oviraptorosaur Brain (Dinosauria: Theropoda)
title_fullStr	Reconsidering the Avian Nature of the Oviraptorosaur Brain (Dinosauria: Theropoda)
title_full_unstemmed	Reconsidering the Avian Nature of the Oviraptorosaur Brain (Dinosauria: Theropoda)
title_sort	reconsidering the avian nature of the oviraptorosaur brain (dinosauria: theropoda)
description	The high degree of encephalization characterizing modern birds is the product of a long evolutionary history, our understanding of which is still largely in its infancy. Here we provide a redescription of the endocranial space of the oviraptorosaurian dinosaur Conchoraptor gracilis with the goal of assessing the hypothesis that it shares uniquely derived endocranial characters with crown-group avians. The existence of such features has implications for the transformational history of avian neuroanatomy and suggests that the oviraptorosaur radiation is a product of the immediate stem lineage of birds—after the divergence of Archaeopteryx lithographica. Results derived from an expanded comparative sample indicate that the strong endocranial similarity between Conchoraptor and modern birds largely reflects shared conservation of plesiomorphic features. The few characters that are maintained as being uniquely expressed in these two taxa are more likely products of convergence than homology but still indicate that the oviraptorosaur endocranial cavity has much to teach us about the complex history of avian brain evolution.
publisher	Public Library of Science
publishDate	2014
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4262302/
_version_	1613166188248956928

Reconsidering the Avian Nature of the Oviraptorosaur Brain (Dinosauria: Theropoda)

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