A 148-million-year-old Jurassic fossil discovered in China may have solved one of evolution's biggest mysteries about how birds evolved from dinosaurs

Researchers have described a new Jurassic bird species, Zhengheornis buyu, discovered in Fujian Province, China. The 148-million-year-old fossil shows a shortened tail with 15 vertebrae but no fused pygostyle, suggesting that vertebral reduction happened before tail bone fusion in the evolution of modern birds.