Dinosaurs Lately - Avialans (Winter 2026) Part 2

Thanks for tuning into the Dinosaurs Lately podcast, the dinosaur podcast that features periodic updates recapping the latest news on the dinosaurs. This is the podcast that targets a type of dinosaur and tries to catch you up on everything that’s been published on them … lately. The goal is to keep up with all the dinosaurs news, even when I’m not publishing new episodes of the Juras-Sick Park-Cast. If you’re interested in this sort of thing – I hope it helps you feel … up to date. Episode 9 - Avialans (Winter 2026) Parts 1 and 2. Avialan news: Jingmai O’Connor (2025). “8. The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds.” In: Scott V. Edwards, and J. Michael Reed (eds), New Perspectives in Ornithology: 21st Century Dispatches across the World of Birds; New York, 2026; online edn, Oxford Academic: 139–168. Evan T Saitta, Lilja Carden, Jonathan S Mitchell & Peter J Makovicky (2025). “Feather Evolution Following Flight Loss In Crown Group Birds: Relaxed Selection And Developmental Constraints.” Evolution, qpaf020. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpaf020 https://academic.oup.com/evolut/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/evolut/qpaf020/7997201 Takumi Watanabe, Fernando E. Novas, Tatsuya Hirasawa (2026). “Evolution of the Jaw Joint and Middle Ear Morphologies in the Lineage Towards Birds.” Zoological Science 43(1): doi: https://doi.org/10.2108/zs250108 https://bioone.org/journals/zoological-science/volume-43/issue-1/zs250108/Evolution-of-the-Jaw-Joint-and-Middle-Ear-Morphologies-in/10.2108/zs250108.full Wang Min, Wang Xiao-Li, Zheng Xiao-Ting & Zhou Zhong-He (2024). “Cranial anatomy of Anchiornis huxleyi (Theropoda: Paraves) sheds new light on bird skull evolution.” Vertebrata Palasiatica (advance online publication). DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.2096-9899.241225 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/387743760_Cranial_anatomy_of_Anchiornis_huxleyi_Theropoda_Paraves_sheds_new_light_on_bird_skull_evolution Yosef Kiat, Xiaoli Wang, Xiaoting Zheng, Yan Wang & Jingmai O’Connor (2025). “Wing morphology of Anchiornis huxleyi and the evolution of molt strategies in paravian dinosaurs.” Communications Biology 8: 1633 doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-09019-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-09019-2 Runsheng Chen, Min Wang, Liping Dong, Guowu Zhou, Xing Xu, Ke Deng, Liming Xu, Chi Zhang, Linchang. Wang, Honggang Du, Ganmin Lin, Min Lin & Zhonghe Zhou (2025). “Earliest short-tailed bird from the Late Jurassic of China.” Nature 638(8050): 441–448. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08410-z https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08410-z Jingmai K. O’Connor, Alexander D. Clark, Pei-Chen Kuo, Min Wang, Akiko Shinya, Constance Van Beek & Huali Chang (2025). “Avian features of Archaeopteryx feeding apparatus reflect elevated demands of flight.” The Innovation (advance online publication). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2025.101086 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666675825002899 Jingmai O’Connor, Alexander Clark, Pei-Chen Kuo, Yosef Kiat, Matteo Fabbri, Akiko Shinya, Constance Van Beek, Jing Lu, Min Wang & Han Hu (2025). “Chicago Archaeopteryx informs on the early evolution of the avian bauplan.” Nature (advance online publication). doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08912-4 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08912-4 Shaoyuan Wu, Ziqi Tao, Liang Liu, Charles R Marshall, Scott V Edwards, Zhonghe Zhou & Frank E Rheindt (2025). “New Fossils Imply a Deeper Origin of Modern Birds in the Mesozoic.” National Science Review, nwaf238. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwaf238 https://academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nsr/nwaf238/8158921 Sergio M. Nebreda, Luis M. Chiappe, Guillermo Navalón, Javier C. Terol, Francisco J. Serrano, Ángela D. Buscalioni & Jesús Marugán-Lobón (2026). “An isolated skull from Las Hoyas (Early Cretaceous, Spain) informs the early evolution towards elongated rostra in enantiornithine birds (Aves, Ornithothoraces).” Swiss Journal of Palaeontology 145: 251-265 doi: https://doi.org/10.3897/sjp.145.182813 https://sjp.pensoft.net/article/182813/ Wang, X., A.D. Clark, J.K. O'Connor, X. Zhang, X. Wang, X. Zheng, and Z. Zhou (2024). “First edentulous enantiornithine (Aves: Ornithothoraces) from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol avifauna.” Cretaceous Research advance online publication. doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105867 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667124000405 Zhiheng Li, Jinsheng Hu, Thomas A Stidham, Mao Ye, Min Wang, Yanhong Pan, Tao Zhao, Jingshu Li, Zhonghe Zhou & Julia A Clarke (2025). “Iridescent structural coloration in a crested Cretaceous enantiornithine bird from the Jehol Biota.” eLife 14: RP103628 doi: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.103628.3 https://elifesciences.org/articles/103628 Wang, M., & Zhou, Z. (2019). A new enantiornithine (Aves: Ornithothoraces) with completely fused premaxillae from the Early ...