What is the closest living relative to dinosaurs

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Summary

2 papers analyzed

These studies suggest that the closest living relatives to dinosaurs are birds, as exemplified by Halszkaraptor escuilliei, which exhibits bird-like characteristics.

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20 papers analyzed

Introduction

The quest to understand the evolutionary lineage of dinosaurs has led to the exploration of their living descendants. Research has focused on the morphological and genomic data to identify the closest living relatives of these ancient creatures.

Key Insights

Colugos are identified as the closest living relatives of primates, suggesting a divergence from their common ancestor during the Cretaceous period.
Birds and their closest relatives among theropod dinosaurs, specifically the Maniraptora clade, share a common ancestry with non-avian maniraptorans, indicating that birds are closely related to dinosaurs.

Conclusion

The current research indicates that birds, through their connection to the Maniraptora clade, are the closest living relatives to dinosaurs. Additionally, colugos have been identified as the closest living relatives to primates, with their evolutionary paths diverging in the Cretaceous period.

Sources and full results

Most relevant research papers on this topic

Molecular and Genomic Data Identify the Closest Living Relative of Primates

Colugos are the closest living relatives of primates, with their divergence occurring in the Cretaceous period.

293 Citations

2007

DOI

Synchrotron scanning reveals amphibious ecomorphology in a new clade of bird-like dinosaurs

Halszkaraptor escuilliei, a new clade of bird-like dinosaurs, exhibits amphibious ecomorphology, convergent with short-tailed birds, and shows neck hyperelongation for food procurement.

97 Citations

2017

DOI

A large, short-armed, winged dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of China and its implications for feather evolution

Zhenyuanlong suni is a new genus and species of large-bodied, short-armed dromaeosaurid from the Early Cretaceous of China, providing new insights into feather evolution and dromaeosaurid phylogeny.

56 Citations

2015

DOI

The Identification of the Closest Living Relative(s) of Tetrapods: Phylogenomic Lessons for Resolving Short Ancient Internodes.

Lungfishes are the closest living relatives of tetrapods, with a robust identification despite nonstationary composition and missing data, using a multispecies coalescent approach and amino acid profile mixture models.

42 Citations

2016

DOI

43 genes support the lungfish-coelacanth grouping related to the closest living relative of tetrapods with the Bayesian method under the coalescence model

Lungfishes and coelacanths form a monophyletic sister-group that is the closest living relative of tetrapods, supported by high Bayesian posterior probabilities and high taxon jackknife supports.

29 Citations

2011

DOI

Osteohistology of the silesaurid Sacisaurus agudoensis from southern Brazil (Late Triassic) and implications for growth in early dinosaurs.

The Late Triassic silesaurid Sacisaurus agudoensis shows rapid growth in its limb bones, supporting the idea that rapid growth occurred early in the dinosauromorph lineage.

7 Citations

2019

DOI

The smallest known non-avian theropod dinosaur

Microraptor zhaoianus is the first mature non-avian theropod dinosaur found smaller than Archaeopteryx, improving our understanding of the morphological transition to birds and their palaeoecology.

510 Citations

2000

DOI

Nuclear protein-coding genes support lungfish and not the coelacanth as the closest living relatives of land vertebrates.

Lungfishes are the closest living relatives of land vertebrates, with high bootstrap values, Bayesian posterior probabilities, and likelihood ratio tests supporting this conclusion.

180 Citations

2004

DOI

Definitive fossil evidence for the extant avian radiation in the Cretaceous

The first Cretaceous fossil, Vegavis iaai, definitively places the extant bird radiation in the Cretaceous, suggesting that duck, chicken, and ratite bird relatives coexisted with non-avian dinosaurs before the K/T boundary.

299 Citations

2005

DOI

The Anatomy of Asilisaurus kongwe, a Dinosauriform from the Lifua Member of the Manda Beds (~Middle Triassic) of Africa

This study provides the first complete anatomy of Asilisaurus kongwe, a dinosauriform from the Middle Triassic Manda Beds of Tanzania, revealing its unique skull and plesiomorphic features, suggesting high homoplasy and parallel trends within Silesauridae and early dinosaur lineages

27 Citations

2019

DOI

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