Archaeoraptor's better half

The other component of this infamous fossil forgery is identified as a fish-eating bird.

Abstract

The 'Archaeoraptor' fossil, once proclaimed as a key intermediate between carnivorous dinosaurs and birds¹ but now known to be a forgery, is a chimaera formed of bird and dromaeosaur parts^2,3. Although the non-avialan dinosaur tail of this controversial specimen from the Early Cretaceous Period of China has been identified⁴, the avialan parts of the specimen have not. Here we reveal that these avialan parts, including the hindlimbs, which were previously designated as unverifiable “attached bones”³, can be referred to a single species, Yanornis martini⁵, and are supported as pieces of a single, almost complete specimen. A new specimen that is also referable to this species, and which has its gut contents preserved, indicates that the principal part of this false raptor dinosaur–bird fossil is in fact a fish-eating bird.