Early Cretaceous

Early Cretaceous spider web with its prey.

The orb web is a spectacular evolutionary innovation that enables spiders to catch flying prey. This elegant, geometric structure is woven with silk fibers that are renowned for their superior mechanical properties. We used silk gland expression libraries to address a long-standing controversy concerning the evolution of the orb-web architecture. Contrary to the view that the orb-web design evo...

Early Cretaceous Ornithomimosaurs (dinosauria: Coelurosauria) from Africa

A new genus and species of ornithomimosaur, Afromimus tenerensis, is described based on a fragmentary skeleton from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian–Albian) El Rhaz Formation of Niger. The holotype and only known individual preserves caudal vertebrae, chevrons and portions of the right hind limb. Derived ornithomimosaurian features include the broad, peanut-shaped articular surfaces of mid caudal c...

Low ecological disparity in Early Cretaceous birds.

Ecological divergence is thought to be coupled with evolutionary radiations, yet the strength of this coupling is unclear. When birds diversified ecologically has received much less attention than their hotly debated crown divergence time. Here, we quantify how accurately skeletal morphology can predict ecology in living and extinct birds, and show that the earliest known assemblage of birds (=...

Early Cretaceous angiosperms and beetle evolution

The Coleoptera (beetles) constitute almost one-fourth of all known life-forms on earth. They are also among the most important pollinators of flowering plants, especially basal angiosperms. Beetle fossils are abundant, almost spanning the entire Early Cretaceous, and thus provide important clues to explore the co-evolutionary processes between beetles and angiosperms. We review the fossil recor...

Astrochronology for the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota in northeastern China