DNA analysis sheds light on early evolution of birds
Submitted by Holly on 08 Oct 2015.
The massive meteor strike that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago may have sparked a rapid evolution of bird species over just a few million years. The few bird lineages that survived the extinction bottleneck gave rise to stunning diversity, resulting in the more than 10,000 species alive today.
Now, a new study published in Nature provides the clearest look yet at those early evolutionary branches as birds emerged as a dominant life form on the planet—relationships that have stumped scientists since the dawn of paleontology.
Read more at: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/earliest-beginnings-of-bird-evolution-brought-into-focus-with-new-dna-analysis/
