News Paleontology

Bird in the hand

Fossilized fingers strengthen evolutionary link between dinosaurs and avian relatives

By Sid Perkins

- More than 2 years ago

The hands of a newly discovered dinosaur species provide fresh support for the notion that birds are closely related to dinosaurs, researchers say.

BIRDY DIGITS The arrangement of bones (inset) in the hands of Limusaurus inextricabilis, a theropod dinosaur that lived in China about 159 million years ago, is similar to that seen in the wings of modern-day birds.