现生鸟类的起源和早期演化

The Origin and Early Evolution of Modern Avian Groups

现生鸟类的起源和演化在过去一个世纪以来,一直是公众关注的话题。古生物学研究表明,现生鸟类的最早出现是在古新世,而爆发性辐射演化发生在新生代早期。现生鸟类是白垩纪与第三纪之交绝灭事件发生之后的幸存类群,近来今鸟类的新发现也进一步支持了现生鸟类起源于新生代的推论。新生代早期(包括古近纪和新近纪)鸟类的分类已被清晰地归入到现生鸟类中,并且现生鸟类传统的“目”“科”类型在早期已经出现并确立。因此,通过研究中生代—新生代鸟类不仅可以帮助我们了解鸟类的早期辐射演化和多样性的历史,同时也能够阐明现生鸟类的起源和早期演化。

The study of the origin and early evolution of modern birds has never produced as much excitement and public attention as in the over 100 years old. Paleontological studies showed that modern avian groups probably first appeared in the Paleocene and experienced an explosive radiation in the early Cenozoic. Modern birds are the only group of Mesozoic birds to have survived after the K/T extinction event, and recent ornithurine discoveries lend further support to the Cenozoic origin of the modern avian groups. The fossil birds of the early Cenozoic （Paleogene--Neogene） are clearly attributable to the modern birds, and the earliest well-estabished record of most traditional orders and families of modern birds occur then. Thus, studies on Mesozoic--Cenozoic avian not only help us to understand the early evolutionary radiation and the history of diversification of birds, but also illuminate the origin and early evolution of modern avian groups.