Enlargement of sternum traits facilitated the evolution of powered flight in birds

doi:10.1038/s41559-025-02795-4

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	Enlargement of sternum traits facilitated the evolution of powered flight in birds
	Lowi-Merri, Talia M.1,2,3; Benson, Roger 4; Hu, Han 5; O'Connor, Jingmai6 ; Claramunt, Santiago 2,3; Evans, David C.2,3
	2025-07-24
发表期刊	NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
ISSN	2397-334X
页码	19
通讯作者	Lowi-Merri, Talia M.(talialowimerri@gmail.com)
摘要	An enlarged sternum with a prominent keel is a central feature of the flight apparatus of modern birds. However, sterna of near-bird dinosaurs (Pennaraptora) and early avialans are either substantially different from those of living birds or absent altogether, raising questions about how specialized sternal structures evolved in birds and how they are related to function. This remains poorly understood because of the fragmentary nature of the fossil record, and the challenges in inferring form and function from crushed fossils. We use ancestral character estimations to trace sternal trait acquisition through the bird stem group, and multivariate phylogenetic regressions to analyse relationships between sternum morphology, body mass and flight capabilities. We find that sternum evolution was episodic: basal members of Pennaraptora had proportionally small sterna, which became larger and more craniocaudally elongated in Avialae. This enlargement precedes the appearance of a midline ridge, a possible precursor of the sternal keel, in Pygostylia. Sternum size increased again in crownward Ornithuromorpha, alongside a fully formed sternal keel and enlarged caudal projections, both critical areas of flight muscle attachment. Sternal experimentation in relation to flight characteristics occurs several times throughout Pennaraptora, including within Paraves and Enantiornithes, indicating that powered flight may have evolved several times before proliferating in crown-group birds.
DOI	10.1038/s41559-025-02795-4
关键词[WOS]	SAPEORNIS-CHAOYANGENSIS ; CONFUCIUSORNIS-SANCTUS ; ADAPTIVE RADIATION ; BASAL BIRDS ; ORIGIN ; ARCHAEOPTERYX ; CHINA ; AVES ; MORPHOLOGY ; DINOSAURS
收录类别	SCI
语种	英语
资助项目	Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)[PGSD3-547147-2020] ; NSERC[RGPIN-2018-06788] ; NSERC[RGPIN-2018-06747] ; European Union[677774]
项目资助者	Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) ; NSERC ; European Union
WOS研究方向	Environmental Sciences & Ecology ; Evolutionary Biology
WOS类目	Ecology ; Evolutionary Biology
WOS记录号	WOS:001534682800001
出版者	NATURE PORTFOLIO
引用统计
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.205/handle/311034/24410
专题	中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所
通讯作者	Lowi-Merri, Talia M.
作者单位	1.New York Inst Technol, Coll Osteopath Med, Dept Anat, Old Westbury, NY 11545 USA 2.Univ Toronto, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, Toronto, ON, Canada 3.Royal Ontario Museum, Dept Nat Hist, Toronto, ON, Canada 4.Amer Museum Nat Hist, Div Paleontol, New York, NY USA 5.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Vertebrate Paleontol & Paleoanthropol, Key Lab Vertebrate Evolut & Human Origins, Beijing, Peoples R China 6.Field Museum Nat Hist, Negaunee Integrat Res Ctr, Chicago, IL USA
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Lowi-Merri, Talia M.,Benson, Roger,Hu, Han,et al. Enlargement of sternum traits facilitated the evolution of powered flight in birds[J]. NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION,2025:19.
APA	Lowi-Merri, Talia M.,Benson, Roger,Hu, Han,O'Connor, Jingmai,Claramunt, Santiago,&Evans, David C..(2025).Enlargement of sternum traits facilitated the evolution of powered flight in birds.NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION,19.
MLA	Lowi-Merri, Talia M.,et al."Enlargement of sternum traits facilitated the evolution of powered flight in birds".NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION (2025):19.