Dinosaurs & Fossils

Chinese scientist Lu Junchang looks over the 165 million-year-old fossil of a 'Darwinopterus', which was discovered along with more than 20 new fossil skeletons in north-east China late last year, at his office in the Institute of Geology at the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences in Beijing October 28, 2009. The group of Chinese and British scientists say that the reptile-like animal, named in honour of the 200th anniversary of the birth of evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin, is evidence of a missing link in Darwin's proposed modular evolution - where natural selection forces a whole series of traits to change rapidly rather than just one.