Jingmai K. O’Connor, Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA. (corresponding author) Jingmai@fieldmuseum.org
Jingmai O’Connor is the Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles at the Field Museum of Natural History. She studies pennraptoran evolution with a primary focus on the origin and evolution of Mesozoic birds.
Xiaoli Wang. College of Life Sciences, Linyi University, Linyi, Shandong Province, China. (corresponding author)
wangxiaoli@lyu.edu.cn
Xiaoli Wang is a paleontologist with a Doctor of Science degree from Lanzhou University. He currently works as a professor at the College of Life Sciences, Linyi University, where he teachs evolutionary biology. His research focuses on the changes and differentiation of bones and soft tissues during the evolutionary process from dinosaurs to birds. He also carries out related teaching and science popularization activities.
Alexander D. Clark. University of Chicago, Committee on Evolutionary Biology, Chicago, Illinois, Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA. adclark@uchicago.edu
Alexander D. Clark is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago and scientific affiliate with the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois (USA). His background in wildlife biology and anatomy contribute to his current research focus on the evolution of early birds, particularly in the Early Cretaceous. His research interests also include musculoskeletal morphologies associated with courtship display and biomechanics of bird limbs.
Pei-Chen Kuo. Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA. brookpckuo@gmail.com
Pei-Chen Kuo is a paleontologist focusing on specialized anatomical adaptations, such as the palate system in birds. Currently, he is working on Mesozoic birds from China and Cenozoic bird collections from the Green River Formation to plot an evolutionary history of bird anatomy.
Ryan Davila. Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA. rdavila@fieldmuseum.org
Ryan Davila is an assistant researcher in Dr. O’Connor’s Dead Bird Nerds lab. Ryan is analyzing myological and osteological correlations of early avialans with their extant analogs through CT segmentation and dissections. He is currently focusing on appendicular myology and osteology and their function in bracketing avialan phylogeny.
Yan Wang. School of Life Science, Linyi University, Linyi, Shandong, China. wangyan6696@lyu.edu.cn
Yan Wang is a paleontologist and professor at Linyi University. Her primary research focus is on the evolution of early birds. Her work centers on the jaw morphology of Cretaceous birds from the Jehol Biota, and she has published over 20 papers in leading international journals, including Nature, Science, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Xiaoting Zheng. Shandong Tianyu Natural History Museum, Pingyi, Shandong Province, China.
zhengxiaoting@lyu.edu.cn
Xiaoting Zheng is a Chinese paleontologist. He founded the Shandong Tianyu Natural History Museum and has been dedicated to research on fossils of the Mesozoic Jehol Biota and Yanliao Biota, with a particular focus on the morphology and taxonomy of feathered dinosaurs and primitive bird fossils. He currently serves as a professor at Linyi University.
Zhonghe Zhou. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. zhouzhonghe@ivpp.ac.cn
Zhonghe Zhou is mainly interested in the origin and early evolution of birds, feathers and bird flight as well as the evolution of the Jehol Biota and the relationship between paleoenvironment and biological evolution in order to reconstruct the Lower Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystem.
