title: Hind wings in Basal birds and the evolution of leg feathers.
abstract: Recent discoveries of large leg feathers in some theropods have implications for our understanding of the evolution of integumentary features on the avialan leg, and particularly of their relevance for the origin of avialan flight. Here we report 11 basal avialan specimens that will greatly improve our knowledge of leg integumentary features among early birds. In particular, they provide solid evidence for the existence of enlarged leg feathers on a variety of basal birds, suggest that extensively scaled feet might have appeared secondarily at an early stage in ornithuromorph evolution, and demonstrate a distal-to-proximal reduction pattern for leg feathers in avialan evolution.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Linyi City, Shandong, China. ty4291666@163.com
authors.forename: Xiaoting
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Zhonghe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Fucheng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiaomei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Guangjin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Shuo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001717:Birds / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005241:Feathers / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005580:Fossils; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000033:anatomy & histology*