News

Monkeydactyl sets a Guinness World Record

3/2022

Kunpengopterus antipollicatus (nicknamed Monkeydactyl) is recognised as the 'First animal with opposable thumbs' by Guinness World Records. The record will be included in the 2023 edition of the Guinness World Records book. Monkeydactyl is a new species of darwinopteran pterosaur reported by our team in 2021.
Zhou, Pêgas, Ma, Han et al. 2021. Current Biology
Webpage on Guinness World Records

Oviraptorosaur skull muscles and bite forces

2/2022

The feeding mechanics of oviraptorosaurs has never been studied using sophisticated muscle modelling. We restored the skulls digitally, reconstructed the adductor muscles, and calculated the bite forces of Incisivosaurus, Citipati, Khaan, and Conchoraptor. We revealed that oviraptorids had restrictive gapes and high bite forces compared to other herbivorous theropods.
Meade & Ma 2022. Scientific Reports

Profile: Hong Kong-born dinosaur expert

12/2021

Interview in 東方日報, 香港01, 體藝文情, HKU Science

Exquisitely preserved theropod dinosaur embryo

21/12/2021

'Baby Yingliang' (英良貝貝) is one of the best-preserved dinosaur embryo fossils ever reported. This oviraptorosaur, from the Late Cretaceous of southern China, has a bird-like embryonic posture, which possibly suggests a pre-hatching behaviour similar to that of living birds.
Xing, Niu, Ma et al. 2022. iScience
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Live interview in BBC News, Sky News, CNN, Australia ABC, LBC, Times Radio, Prisa W Radio
Article in The Conversation (republished in The Independent, Scroll.in)
Retweeted by Jurassic World

Monkeydactyl selected as one of the surprising records science set in 2021

20/12/2021

Our discovery of Kunpengopterus antipollicatus (nicknamed Monkeydactyl) was selected by Science News as one of the 6 surprising records science set in 2021. It is the earliest known animal with opposable thumbs.
Article in Science News

Macroevolution of theropod dinosaur feeding mechanics

16/12/2021

Theropod dinosaurs underwent extreme dietary changes during the Mesozoic, from ancestral carnivory to specialised carnivory, herbivory, and omnivory. We used finite element analysis (FEA) to study the biomechanics of >40 theropod jaws, and revealed how carnivores and herbivores differ in feeding mechanics, as well as a general trend of jaw strengthening along all lineages.
Ma et al. 2022. Current Biology
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Titanosauriform sauropod lower jaw from Ruyang Basin

27/10/2021

Partial dentary of a titanosauriform sauropod is reported from Ruyang Basin of Henan, China. It has a relatively low tooth replacement rate compared to other titanosauriform sauropods. The fossil and 3D printed model are now displayed in the Dinosaur Hall of Henan Natural History Museum.
Chang et al. 2021. PeerJ
Press in 中國新聞網, 新華網, 新華社, 洛陽日報, 果殼, 科技日報

New darwinopteran pterosaur with the oldest opposed thumb

12/4/2021

Kunpengopterus antipollicatus (對握鯤鵬翼龍), nicknamed "Monkeydactyl (擒拿翼龍)", has an opposed thumb on both hands, the first of such feature in pterosaurs. It also represents the oldest opposed thumb in the fossil record.
Zhou, Pêgas, Ma, Han et al. 2021. Current Biology
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New long-tailed anurognathid pterosaur from the Jurassic

31/3/2021

Sinomacrops bondei (邦氏中華大眼翼龍) is a tiny pterosaur discovered in the Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of Hebei, China, the second anurognathid from this formation.
Wei et al. 2021. PeerJ
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Creature in ARK: Survival Evolved

Article on oviraptorosaurs in Palaeontology Online

2/2/2021

Article in Palaeontology Online

Commentary for The Times on a new oviraptorosaur

31/10/2020

Oksoko is a new two-fingered oviraptorid oviraptorosaur from the Late Cretaceous Nemegt Formation of Mongolia.
Commentary in The Times

Form and function of oviraptorosaur and scansoriopterygid skulls

21/8/2020

The diets of oviraptorosaurian and scansoriopterygid dinosaurs are enigmatic. We conducted functional analysis and showed that these early-diverging pennaraptorans had a high dietary complexity.
Ma et al. 2020. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History

Fossil record of pennaraptoran dinosaurs

21/8/2020

This paper summarises the known fossil record of Mesozoic and Paleocene pennaraptorans.
Pittman et al. 2020. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History

Systematics of pennaraptoran dinosaurs

21/8/2020

Pennaraptora is a group of theropod dinosaurs including Oviraptorosauria, Scansoriopterygidae, Dromaeosauridae, Troodontidae, and Avialae.
This paper presents the phylogenetic relationships within and between key clades, as well as their uncertainties and controversies.
Pittman et al. 2020. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History

Oviraptorosaur skull evolution and niche partitioning

17/10/2019

Oviraptorosaurs are known to have diverse skull forms. We used landmark, statistical and functional analyses to explore their skull form and function, with a particular focus on the niche partitioning among Ganzhou Oviraptorid Fauna.
Ma et al. 2020. Journal of Evolutionary Biology

Description of Gigantoraptor's lower jaw

24/11/2017

Gigantoraptor is an 8-meter-long oviraptorosaur from Iren Dabasu Formation, Inner Mongolia, China. We provide an in-depth description of the mandible and discuss its implications on the evolution of oviraptorosaurian jaws.
Ma et al. 2017. Scientific Reports
Press in Sciworthy