A bizarre reptile with vane-like appendages sprouting from its spine may have been the ancestor of birds, according to a group of scientific mavericks. But researchers who believe that birds descended from dinosaurs dismiss the new claim.
Most paleontologists say there's no question about the origin of birds.
They cite numerous skeletal similarities that link modern birds to a group of dinosaurs called the theropods. Despite this, a small group of ornithologists and paleontologists has long argued that certain differences, such as the identity of bones in the hand, mean that dinosaurs can't be birds' true ancestors. But they haven't had much luck finding an alternative. The reptile was discovered decades ago in an ancient lakebed in what is now Kyrgyzstan. Paleontologist John Ruben of Oregon State University in Corvallis and graduate student Terry Jones first saw it in early 1999, as part of a privately sponsored fossil show.