逾百年的鸟类起源之争

Perpetual Debate on the Origin of Bird

自1990年代初,我国辽宁西部地区发现大量中生代原始鸟类,特别是孔子鸟的发现在世界媒体报道之后,公众对鸟类化石、鸟类历史,尤其是鸟类起源和飞行起源等问题产生了浓厚兴趣,同时也带动了对其他脊椎动物化石的关注。由于与孔子鸟同一产地发现了多种带毛状皮肤构造的小型兽脚类恐龙,点燃了学术界空前广泛而深入的鸟类起源之争。

Because of the discovery of Catbayornis group and Confuciusornis group,the field of avian origin has undergone revolutionary changes in the last ten years in China,especially in west Liaoning province.Long-time debates on the origin of bird and flight are also introduced,especially different theories are concerned.Four different prototypes of Confuciusornis group in morphology show that the bird origin is not monophyletic,but polygeny.Dinosaur is not the ancestor of bird.