Figure 1From: From dinosaurs to birds: a tail of evolutionEvolutionary tree of Paraves showing important evolutionary changes. Although several other groups of dinosaurs evolved a pygostyle (fused posterior tail vertebrae) independently, note that the first birds had long tails and that the fossil record documents a short temporal duration of both long- and short-tailed birds followed thereafter exclusively by birds with truncated, distally fused tails.Back to article page