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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2020.03.16.993949

Is Oculudentavis a bird or even archosaur?

Li, Z.·Wang, W.·Hu, H.·Wang, M.·Yi, H.·Lu, J.
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Abstract

Recent finding of a fossil - Oculudentavis khaungraae Xing et al. 2020, entombed in a Late Cretaceous amber - was claimed to represent a humming bird-sized dinosaur1. Regardless of the intriguing evolutionary hypotheses about the bauplan of Mesozoic dinosaurs (including birds) posited therein, this enigmatic animal demonstrates various morphologies resembling lizards. If Oculudentavis was a bird, it challenges several fundamental morphological differences between Lepidosauria and Archosauria. Here we reanalyze the original computed tomography scan data of Oculudentavis. Morphological evidences demonstrated here highly contradict the avian or even archosaurian phylogenetic placement of Oculudentavis. In contrast, our analysis revealed multiple synapomorphies of the Squamata in this taxon, including pleurodont marginal teeth and an open infratemporal fenestra, which suggests a squamate rather than avian or dinosaurian affinity of Oculudentavis.

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Li, Z., Wang, W., Hu, H., Wang, M., Yi, H., Lu, J.. 2020-03-18. Is Oculudentavis a bird or even archosaur?. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.16.993949

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