Bird-like dinosaur sheds light on finger evolution

Bird-like dinosaur sheds light on finger evolution

Undated file photo shows the fossil of Limusaurus. Xu Xing, a principal investigator at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, led an international team found to show the dinosaur-to-bird evidences at the latest issue of the academic journal of Nature, published Thursday. Xu's team discovered two skeletons of a beaked, plant-eating dinosaur, which they named Limusaurus, in the Junggar Basin in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China. The new fossil, belonging to the theropods, had four digits, equal to human's thumb, index, middle and ring fingers. Its "thumb" became greatly reduced and the size of its index finger increased.

Undated file photo shows a recovery image of Limusaurus.
(Xinhua Photo)