ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2011
Evolution of olfaction in non-avian theropod dinosaurs and birds.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers.
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55 citing papers in PubMed, 171 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Structure and evolution of the embryonic cartilaginous skull of crocodilians.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Convergent reduction of olfactory genes and olfactory bulb size in mammalian species at altitude.Current biology : CB · 2025Article
- Ontogenetic Changes in Endocranial Anatomy in Gorgosaurus libratus (Theropoda: Tyrannosauridae) Provide Insight Into the Evolution of the Tyrannosauroid Endocranium.The Journal of comparative neurology · 2025Article
- Neuroanatomy ofSwiss journal of palaeontology · 2025Article
- The Importance of Olfaction for Mixed Paternity in Birds.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Avialan-like brain morphology in Sinovenator (Troodontidae, Theropoda).Communications biology · 2024Article
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- Expanded olfactory system in ray-finned fishes capable of terrestrial exploration.BMC biology · 2023Article
- Neuroanatomy of the crocodylian Tomistoma dowsoni from the Miocene of North Africa provides insights into the evolutionary history of gavialoids.Journal of anatomy · 2023Article
- Modified skulls but conservative brains? The palaeoneurology and endocranial anatomy of baryonychine dinosaurs (Theropoda: Spinosauridae).Journal of anatomy · 2023Article
- Neuroanatomy of the crocodylomorph Portugalosuchus azenhae from the late cretaceous of Portugal.Journal of anatomy · 2023Article
- The endocast of the insular and extinct Sylviornis neocaledoniae (Aves, Galliformes), reveals insights into its sensory specializations and its twilight ecology.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- The Birth of the Mammalian Sleep.Biology · 2022Review
- The endocranial anatomy of Buriolestes schultzi (Dinosauria: Saurischia) and the early evolution of brain tissues in sauropodomorph dinosaurs.Journal of anatomy · 2021Article
- Article
- Endocast structures are reliable proxies for the sizes of corresponding regions of the brain in extant birds.Journal of anatomy · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Little is known about the olfactory capabilities of extinct basal (non-neornithine) birds or the evolutionary changes in olfaction that occurred from non-avian theropods through modern birds. Although modern birds are known to have diverse olfactory capabilities, olfaction is generally considered to have declined during avian evolution as visual and vestibular sensory enhancements occurred in association with flight. To test the hypothesis that olfaction diminished through avian evolution, we assessed relative olfactory bulb size, here used as a neuroanatomical proxy for olfactory capabilities, in 157 species of non-avian theropods, fossil birds and living birds. We show that relative olfactory bulb size increased during non-avian maniraptoriform evolution, remained stable across the non-avian theropod/bird transition, and increased during basal bird and early neornithine evolution. From early neornithines through a major part of neornithine evolution, the relative size of the olfactory bulbs remained stable before decreasing in derived neoavian clades. Our results show that, rather than decreasing, the importance of olfaction actually increased during early bird evolution, representing a previously unrecognized sensory enhancement. The relatively larger olfactory bulbs of earliest neornithines, compared with those of basal birds, may have endowed neornithines with improved olfaction for more effective foraging or navigation skills, which in turn may have been a factor allowing them to survive the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.
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