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The hypothesis of the direct origin of birds from theropod dinosaurs has recently become widespread. Direct sisterly relationships between theropods and birds were assumed in the basis of random and formal synapomorphies, such as the number of caudal vertebrae, relative length of the humerus, and flattening of the dorsal margin of the pubis. In essence, this hypothesis is supported by the characters of theropods and birds, such as the presence of feathering, furcula, uncinate processes of ribs, pygostyle, double-condyled dorsal joint of the quadrate, and posteriorly turned pubis, which are recognized as homologies. Until recently, these characters have been regarded as avian apomorphies; however, they are presently known in various coelurosaurian groups. At the same time, they occur in various combinations in the Dromaeosauridae, Troodontidae, Oviraptoridae, Therizinosauridae, and Tyrannosauridae. None of the theropod groups possesses the entire set of these characters. This suggests that theropods and birds acquired them in parallel. Theropod dinosaurs and Sauriurae (Archaeornithes and Enantiornithes) show a number of important system synapomorphies, which indicate that they are closely related. Ornithurine birds lack such synapomorphies; however, their monophyly is supported by a large number of diagnostic characters. The hypothesis of independent origin of Sauriurae and Ornithurae is substantiated; the former are considered to have evolved from theropods in the Jurassic, while the latter deviated from a basal archosauromorph group in the Late Triassic. The hypothesis that birds existed in the Early Mesozoic is supported by the findings of small avian footprints in the Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic of different continents.

Despite the discoveries of well-preserved Mesozoic birds, a key part of avian evolution, close to the radiation of all living birds (Aves), remains poorly represented. Here we report on a new taxon from the Late Cretaceous locality of Ukhaa Tolgod, Mongolia, that offers insight into this critically unsampled period. Apsaravis and the controversial alvarezsaurids are the only avialan taxa known from the continental deposits at Ukhaa Tolgod, which have produced hundreds of fossil mammals, lizards and other small dinosaurs. The new taxon, Apsaravis ukhaana, is the best-preserved specimen of a Mesozoic ornithurine bird discovered in over a century. It provides data important for assessing morphological evolution across Avialae, with implications for, first, the monophyly of Enantiornithes and Sauriurae; second, the proposition that the Mesozoic sister taxa of extant birds, as part of an 'ecological bottleneck', inhabited exclusively near-shore and marine environments; and third, the evolution of flight after its origin.

The oldest known feathers from the Late Jurassic are already modern in form and microscopic detail. Because these oldest examples are assignable to an extinct branch (Sauriurae) of the basal avian dichotomy, their features must have been established at a significantly earlier date. The skin of a wide variety of dinosaurs is now known and is unlikely to represent a predecessor to a feather bearing integument. Examples of feathered dinosaurs result from erroneous identification of internal structures as part of the skin covering, and from the confusion of flightless birds from the Early Cretaceous of China with dinosaurs.

It is described in this paper for the frrst time the fossil bird skeleton found at the famous quarry of Iimestones of Montsec mountain dated from Early Cretaceous. Unfortunately it is only preserved a few part of this skeleton concerning to the fore arms mainly. The few characters preserved do not allow to assign any taxonomic position but they show some mixed signs between the Sauriurae and Ornithurae.

One of the most important avian fossils is a nearly complete skeleton of a hesperornithid from the late Cretaceous Niobrara Chalk Formation of western Kansas found by H. T. Martin in 1894. Williston assigned it to Hesperornis gracilis, a form named by Marsh but never really diagnosed or illustrated. Because of the size and apparent completeness of Marsh's monumental work on the Mesozoic birds of North America, these birds have been largely ignored since its publication. This has largely been the fate of H. T. Martin's exceptional specimen, parts of which have been figured under both Hesperornis gracilis, and H. regalis. This specimen can now be shown to be a previously undescribed genus of hesperornithiform bird, that provides the basis for a re-evaluation of the relationships of the Hesperornithiformes to other Mesozoic birds. Archaeopteryx is a member of a side-branch of avian evolution, the subclass Sauriurae, which became extinct at the end of the Mesozoic. The hesperornithiform Enaliornis is the earliest bird which can be shown to belong to the subclass Omithurae to which all modem birds belong.