Alan Feduccia
John Alan Feduccia (born 25 April 1943) is a paleornithologist specializing in the origins and phylogeny of birds. He is S. K. Heninger Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina. Feduccia's authored works include three major books, The Age of Birds, The Origin and Evolution of Birds, Riddle of the Feathered Dragons, and many peer-reviewed papers in ornithological and biological journals.
Alan Feduccia | |
|---|---|
Feduccia in 2009 | |
| Born | John Alan Feduccia April 25, 1943 |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan |
| Awards | Fellow, American Ornithologists' Union 1974 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science 1994 Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award (2018) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ornithology, Paleornithology, Paleontology, Biology |
| Institutions | University of North Carolina |
Feduccia opposes the overwhelming scientific consensus that birds originated from and are deeply nested within Theropoda, and are therefore living theropod dinosaurs. He has argued for an alternative theory in which birds share a common stem-ancestor with theropod dinosaurs among more basal archosaurian lineages, with birds originating from small arboreal archosaurs in the Triassic.