Almost Birds: Exploring the Evolution of Troodontids

Please enjoy this episode focusing on the Troodontids, a family of somewhat overlooked Paravian Theropods that were closely related to birds. https://www.patreon.com/c/DrPolaris?vanity=user Thumbnail art by Archesuchus Sources used for this episode: Cullen, Thomas M.; Cousens, Brian L. (15 November 2023). "New biogeochemical insights into Mesozoic terrestrial paleoecology and evidence for omnivory in troodontid dinosaurs". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 136 (7–8): 2689–2701. doi:10.1130/b37077.1. ISSN 0016-7606. S2CID 265241862. Gao, Chunling; Morschhauser, Eric M.; Varricchio, David J.; Liu, Jinyuan; Zhao, Bo (2012-09-27). "A Second Soundly Sleeping Dragon: New Anatomical Details of the Chinese Troodontid Mei long with Implications for Phylogeny and Taphonomy". PLOS ONE. 7 (9) e45203. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...745203G. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045203. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3459897. PMID 23028847. Grellet-Tinner, G. (2006). "Oology and the evolution of thermophysiology in saurischian dinosaurs: homeotherm and endotherm deinonychosaurians?". Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia. 46 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1590/S0031-10492006000100001. S2CID 162574571. Hartman, Scott; Mortimer, Mickey; Wahl, William R.; Lomax, Dean R.; Lippincott, Jessica; Lovelace, David M. (2019-07-10). "A new paravian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America supports a late acquisition of avian flight". PeerJ. 7 e7247. Bibcode:2019PeerJ...7e7247H. doi:10.7717/peerj.7247. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 6626525. PMID 31333906. Holtz, T.R. Jr.; Brinkman, D.L.; Chandler, C.L. (1998). "Denticle morphometrics and a possibly omnivorous feeding habit for the theropod dinosaur Troodon" (PDF). Gaia. 15: 159–166. Junchang Lü; Li Xu; Yongqing Liu; Xingliao Zhang; Songhai Jia & Qiang Ji (2010). "A new troodontid (Theropoda: Troodontidae) from the Late Cretaceous of central China, and the radiation of Asian troodontids" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 55 (3): 381–388. doi:10.4202/app.2009.0047. S2CID 55220748. Kubota, K.; Kobayashi, Y.; Ikeda, T. (2024). "Early Cretaceous troodontine troodontid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Ohyamashimo Formation of Japan reveals the early evolution of Troodontinae". Scientific Reports. 14 (1) 16392. Bibcode:2024NatSR..1416392K. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-66815-2. PMC 11272788. PMID 39054320. Norell, M. A.; Makovicky, P. J.; Bever, G. S.; Balanoff, A. M.; Clark, J. M.; Barsbold, R.; Rowe, T. (2009). "A review of the Mongolian Cretaceous dinosaur Saurornithoides (Troodontidae, Theropoda)". American Museum Novitates (3654): 1−63. doi:10.1206/648.1. hdl:2246/5973. Pei, R.; Norell, M.A.; Barta, D.E.; Bever, G.S.; Pittman, M.; Xu, Xing (2017). "Osteology of a New Late Cretaceous Troodontid Specimen from Ukhaa Tolgod, Ömnögovi Aimag, Mongolia". American Museum Novitates (3889): 1–47. doi:10.1206/3889.1. S2CID 90883541. Senter, P.; Kirkland, J. I.; Bird, J.; Bartlett, J. A. (2010). "A New Troodontid Theropod Dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Utah". PLOS ONE. 5 (12) e14329. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...514329S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014329. PMC 3002269. PMID 21179513. Shen, C.; Lü, J.; Liu, S.; Kundrát, M.; Brusatte, S.L.; Gao, H. (2017). "A New Troodontid Dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province, China" (PDF). Acta Geologica Sinica. 91 (3): 763–780. Bibcode:2017AcGlS..91..763S. doi:10.1111/1755-6724.13307. hdl:20.500.11820/dc010682-fce0-4db4-bef6-7b2b29f5be8a. S2CID 129939153. Tagliavento, Mattia; Davies, Amelia J.; Bernecker, Miguel; Fiebig, Jens (April 3, 2023). "Evidence for heterothermic endothermy and reptile-like eggshell mineralization in Troodon, a non-avian maniraptoran theropod". PNAS. 120 (15) e2213987120. Bibcode:2023PNAS..12013987T. doi:10.1073/pnas.2213987120. PMC 10104568. PMID 37011196. van der Reest, A. J.; Currie, P. J. (2017). "Troodontids (Theropoda) from the Dinosaur Park Formation, Alberta, with a description of a unique new taxon: implications for deinonychosaur diversity in North America" (PDF). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 54 (9): 919–935. Bibcode:2017CaJES..54..919V. doi:10.1139/cjes-2017-0031. hdl:1807/78296. Varricchio, D. J.; Hogan, J. D.; Gardner, J. D. (2025). "Troodontid specimens from the Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of Montana (USA) and the validity of Troodon formosus". Journal of Paleontology: 1–22. doi:10.1017/jpa.2024.67. Xu, X.; Currie, P.; Pittman, M.; Xing, L.; Meng, Q.; Lü, J.; Hu, D.; Yu, C. (2017). "Mosaic evolution in an asymmetrically feathered troodontid dinosaur with transitional features". Nature Communications. 8 14972. Bibcode:2017NatCo...814972X. doi:10.1038/ncomms14972. PMC 5418581. PMID 28463233.