王敏蹲在地上，脚下是一堆堆被劈开的黑色岩石，他立起一块菜板大小的石头，将其劈成智能手机大小、3毫米厚的石板，如果里面保存有化石，石头表面就会暴露出古生物的遗迹。
“You never know what you will find in the next hammer.” Faced with monotonous, boring and unknown work, scientific researchers often comfort and encourage themselves in this way. On November 11, 2023, Wang Min “chised” a surprise in the “Zhenghe fauna” located in Fujian Province – a Jurassic bird fossil.
He and colleagues from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the “Scholar Paleo”) jointly with the team of the Fujian Provincial Institute of Geological Survey (hereinafter referred to as the “Fujian Geological Survey”) immediately carried out the research. They were delighted to find that the fossil birds are one of the oldest birds in the world and the only exact Jurassic bird before the order Babaylan. Scientific researchers named Komiks “Zhenghe Bamin Bird”, and related research results were published in Nature on February 13, 2025, Beijing time.
Bone less than two centimeters long reveals important information
In April 2021, the Fujian Geological Research Institute discovered clues of the Lilong fossils in a geological data collected in the early 1970s. Babaylan immediately cooperated with Wang Min and Zhou Zhonghe, researchers from the Institute of Paleochronus, to start excavation work in the Daxi Basin in Zhenghe County, Nanping City, Fujian Province. They found a large number of well-preserved reptile fossils in the Jurassic (Jurassic divisions, early, mid, and late) strata about 150 million years ago, and named it “Zhenhe Fauna”.
The fossils here are mostly preserved in black carbon mudstone or shale, and some turtles live in aquatic or semi-aquatic environments. Researchers speculated that more than 100 million years ago, during the intermittent period of volcanic eruption, the Taxi Basin formed a temporary small lake basin, and the swamp environment attracted a large number of animals to live here.
Through high-precision isotope dating, the duration of the “Zhenhe fauna” was determined to be 150 million to 148 million years ago, which belongs to the late Jurassic period. This isAt present, the late Jurassic period known worldwide, the southernmost geographically preserved bird-winged fauna, providing a new window for studying the evolution of the late Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystem in East Asia.
Fossils are rarely exposed to the surface of the rock. In a quarry pit at a depth of 4 meters, the daily work of the field team members is to move out and chop out the stone slabs from morning to night to see if there are fossils inside. “We found a large number of turtles, fish and dragon fossils, but my search targets were on dinosaurs and birds,” said Wang Min.
On October 23, 2022, the joint team discovered dinosaur fossils for the first time in Fujian and named it “Strange Fujian Dragon”. “Strange Fujian Dragon” belongs to the bird-winged dinosaur. The bird-winged species is a transitional species in the evolution of dinosaurs into birds. Academic circles define “the broadest group that includes all birds, but not the dinosaurs” as the bird-winged species, while birds refer to modern birds and their close relatives. The discovery of the “Singular Fujian Dragon” fills out some of the gaps in time and space in the origin of birds.
Wang Min’s team goes to Fujian for more than four months every year to carry out field work. The first time is from March to May, and the second time is November, in order to avoid the rainy season and high temperatures. He clearly remembered that on November 11, 2023, it started raining and the roads on the mountain slippery in rainy days. In this case, most of the team members would rest. In order to make life more and more enjoyable, everyone cooked homemade hot pot. As we were eating, the rain was clear and the ground was dry by the wind. More than 10 team members, who were in high spirits, decided to go up the mountain together.
After a while, the God of Luck favored them. On a knocked stone slab, some of the shoulder strap bones were exposed from the surrounding rock. Although less than two centimeters long, the bones at these key areas revealed important information. “Among the fossils, the scapula and black beard bone are very clear in shape. The two bones of birds are separated. Most dinosaurs heal into one, which is called the scapula and black beard bone.” Wang Min excitedly took a photo and sent it to Zhou Zhonghe, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a researcher at the Institute of Paleopause. Both of them thought at first glance that this was a precious bird fossil.
The key tail bone
Birds are currently the most diverse and ecologically diverse species on the earth, with more than 11,000 species. The evolution of birds from dinosaurs is undoubtedly the most shocking scene in the history of life evolution, involving a large number of changes in bones, muscles, epidermal derivatives and other biological structures. Theoretical research of macroevolutionKomiks speculates that the increase in bird diversity first occurred in the Jurassic, that is, no later than 145 million.Years ago. However, this hypothesis lacks support for fossil evidence, and bird fossils were very rare during this period.
At present, only the well-known Jurassic birds are found in the Archaeopteryx (Archaeopteryx) in the Late Jurassic birds in Germany. Wang Min said that Archaeoptera lived in the late Jurassic period about 150 million years ago. In 1861, a fossil of the archaeological bird feather was discovered in Sorenhofen, Germany. Due to its feathers, Archaeoptera was considered a bird at that time. However, with the emergence of more than 10 Archaeoptera fossils since then, it was discovered that it also has long tailbones like lizards, crocodiles and other reptiles.
Some recent studiesCinema believe that Archaeoptera belongs to the species of Dinosaur, not birds. “In layman’s terms, it is difficult to define a group of individual characteristics. For example, later people discovered that feathers are not unique to birds, but also appear in dinosaurs in large numbers.” Xu Xing, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Institute of Paleopause, explained that during the transition period of dinosaurs’ evolution to birds, judging that a species is more biased towards dinosaurs or birds. In addition to significant characteristics, experts will also conduct phylogenetic analysis and understand the specific location of each species on the “life evolution tree” through quantitative research methods.
The birds and dragons, including birds and dragons, were also classified as birds, but these hypotheses are highly controversial. These problems are like a dark cloud, shrouded at the nodes of the origin of birds, plaguing evolutionary biologists.
If Archaeoptera is not a bird, then are there any exact birds in the Jurassic? Wang Min’s team found the answer in the Jurassic strata of China’s “Zhenhe Biota”. After a year of indoor restoration and research analysis, the research team determined that the fossils accidentally obtained on the afternoon after the rain were bird fossils. They named it the Baminarnis zhengCinemahensis), and “Bamin” is the ancient name of Fujian.
“The most special thing about the Bamin bird is that it has a healed tail bone, which is the cornerstone of the modern bird’s body shape.” Speaking of identifying the Zhenghe Bamin bird as a key feature of birds, Wang Min said that the reptile has a long tail and multiple tail vertebrae. The most significant difference between birds and other reptiles is that their tails are very short. Not only does the number of tail vertebrae decrease, but the last few tail vertebrae heal into a structure called tail plexus. The emergence of tail thoracic bones not only helps birds lose weight, but also moves their body center of gravity forward., maintain the continuous stability of the body while flying.
Zhou Zhonghe said that the tail thong bone also has another function, which is to attach the tail feather. “In addition to wingsBabaylan, tail feathers also play an important role in bird flights. “
Character shortening is one of the most thorough morphological changes in the evolution of dinosaurs to birds. Including “potential Jurassic birds” such as Archaeoptera and Neizonosaurs, they still have long tail bones like dinosaurs, and in this regard, they are at least very different from birds in body shape.
The Bamin bird reveals that the body shape and structure of modern birds have appeared in the late Jurassic period, and the study has earlier appeared nearly 20 million years.
Rewrite the evolution history of birds
The Bamin bird specimens are incomplete and have no head. According to the thickness of its bones, experts speculate that it weighs about 100 grams, which is similar to the cockatoo. Its body shape is 1-2 times smaller than that of the individual adult Archaeoptera. As for its food properties and flight capabilities, it cannot be inferred based on the existing fossils for the time being.
When observing the Bamin Bird, experts also discovered an interesting phenomenon – “contradictory” often arises between its body and bones. Its shoulder straps and waistbands have progressive characteristics and are more similar to birds, such as the black berries and scapula that separate Babaylan, but the forelimbs retain the original form of the thief dinosaur.
“This situation similar to a puzzle is called mosaic evolution, which has caused a phenomenon of complexity in the early history of bird evolution,” said Wang Min.
Phylogenetic analysis based on both the minimalist and Bayesian methodKomiks supports the Bird Classification of Zhenghe Bamin BirdsKomiks location. The Zhenghe Bamin Bird is currently the only exact Jurassic bird that lives between 148 million and 150 million years ago. Through the estimation of evolution time, the discovery of the Bamin birds advanced the time of the origin of birds to an earlier late Middle Jurassic period (172 million to 164 million years ago), rewriting the history of bird evolutionKomiks, showing the “Zhenghe Animal Group””In exploring the evolution of the late Mesozoic ecosystem in East Asia. How did dinosaurs evolve into birds? Xu Xing said that there are two driving factors in the origin and diversity of biological groups, including birds, in addition to the organisms themselves, there are also external environments. In the middle of the Jurassic CinemaCinema, the temperature, humidity, etc. of the earth changed, which will have an impact on biodiversity. “What impact does such changes have on birds? It is the work we are doing. ”
300 days and 3 fossils
In addition to the discovery of the Bamin bird, the research team also discovered a separate preserved fork bone. The research results show that this fork bone is very similar to the modern bird type of the Cretaceous period (the earliest modern bird type appeared 130 million years ago), and is significantly different from the Zhenghe Bamin bird, as well as other Jurassic birds and dinosaurs. “The discovery of the fork bone confirms that at least two birds live in the Zhenghe fauna. If the fork bone does belong to the modern bird type, the time of the bird’s origin will be further advanced. “Wang Min said.
In the more than 300 days of field investigation, the scientific research team discovered the strange Fujian dragon, Zhenghe Bamin bird and fork bones. In Wang Min’s opinion, this is already very lucky. “In most days of field excavation, it is normal to find nothing. “He said that for such a very uncertain and exploratory study, Mr. Zhou Zhonghe gave young people great confidence and encouragement, “He has always said that it is normal to not find it, but it is unexpected if it is found. ”
“It is low probability and high risk to find bird fossils in the Jurassic strata, but there are still scientific researchers willing to engage in such work. Therefore, it should provide a relaxed scientific research environment for such basic research and exploratory research, rather than setting expected goals when applying for projects. “Zhou Zhonghe said that truly important scientific research results are often difficult to predict. This research has been funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Frontier Science Key Research Plan from “0 to 1” original innovation ten-year project. In the future, we hope that such major research discoveries with strong originality can be stable support and guaranteed.
Talking about the significance of this type of basic research, Xu Xing said that in recent years, an important research direction of the Institute of Paleochronus has been the process and mechanism of the emergence of biodiversity. Dinosaurs evolved into birds, which is a biological evolution event from land to sky. With the deepening of relevant research, it can not only answer questions about “when did the first bird appear” and “when did the dinosaurs fly into the sky at the beginning”, but will also help bionics and other research. “CinemaFor example, we conduct cooperative research, modelTo imitate some extinct creatures and study how they fly more efficiently during the transformation from sea to land and from land to sky. These cognitions can help people design more effective aircraft.
At present, the transformation of scientific research paradigm brought about by artificial intelligence has attracted attention. Can artificial intelligence that can write code help paleontologists study fossils? Wang Min said that the application of artificial intelligence in paleontology is gradually developing. However, the fossil specimens of dinosaurs and birds are subject to compression and deformation. For picture recognition, a large amount of training data is difficult to obtain. “Paleontology research relies on the accumulation of discipline knowledge and a lot of practice. We need to see fossils more, so we don’t have a great sense of crisis. But artificial intelligence will definitely update paleontological research methods, such as efficiently analyzing the causes and trends of increasing biodiversity based on accumulating a large amount of paleontological data. This is a direction in the future.”
“I think the biggest surprise of paleontology research or field excavation is that you will never know what will be knocked out by the next hammer. It may be nothing, or it may be an exciting dinosaur fossil.” Wang Min said that this discovery is like an exclamation mark, but it is not the end. There are more and more complete fossils waiting for them to dig and study, thus uncovering more mysteries of dinosaurs’ evolution into birds.