Journal articles: 'Fossil birds'

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Lydekker, R. "On British Fossil Birds." Ibis 33, no. 3 (June 28, 2008): 381–410. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919x.1891.tb08547.x.

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Mayr, Gerald, S. Bruce Archibald, Gary W. Kaiser, and Rolf W. Mathewes. "Early Eocene (Ypresian) birds from the Okanagan Highlands, British Columbia (Canada) and Washington State (USA)." Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 56, no. 8 (August 2019): 803–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2018-0267.

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We survey the known avian fossils from Ypresian (early Eocene) fossil sites of the North American Okanagan Highlands, mainly in British Columbia (Canada). All specimens represent taxa that were previously unknown from the Eocene of far-western North America. Wings from the McAbee site are tentatively referred to the Gaviiformes and would constitute the earliest fossil record of this group of birds. A postcranial skeleton from Driftwood Canyon is tentatively assigned to the Songziidae, a taxon originally established for fossils from the Ypresian of China. Two skeletons from Driftwood Canyon and the McAbee site are tentatively referred to Coliiformes and Zygodactylidae, respectively, whereas three further fossils from McAbee, Blakeburn, and Republic (Washington, USA) are too poorly preserved for even a tentative assignment. The specimens from the Okanagan Highlands inhabited relatively high paleoaltitudes with microthermal climates (except Quilchena: lower mesothermal) and mild winters, whereas most other Ypresian fossil birds are from much warmer lowland paleoenvironments with upper mesothermal to megathermal climates. The putative occurrence of a gaviiform bird is particularly noteworthy because diving birds are unknown from other lacustrine Ypresian fossil sites of the Northern Hemisphere. The bones of the putative zygodactylid show a sulphurous colouration, and we hypothesize that this highly unusual preservation may be due to the metabolic activity of sulphide-oxidizing bacteria.

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Abrahams, Miengah, and Emese M. Bordy. "The oldest fossil bird-like footprints from the upper Triassic of southern Africa." PLOS ONE 18, no. 11 (November 29, 2023): e0293021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293021.

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Footprint morphology reflects the anatomy of the trackmaker’s foot and is direct evidence for the animal’s behaviour. Consequently, fossil tracks can be used to infer ancient diversity, ethology, and evolutionary trends. This is particularly useful for deep-time intervals during which the early history of an animal group is reliant upon limited fossil skeletal material. Fossil tracks of early birds and theropods, the co-existing dinosaurian ancestors of birds, co-occur in the rock record since the Early Cretaceous. However, the evolutionary transition from dinosaur to bird and the timing of the birds’ origin are still contested. Skeletal remains of the basal-most birds Aurornis, Anchiornis, Archaeopteryx and Xiaotingia are Middle to Late Jurassic, while tracks with tentative bird affinities, attributed to dinosaurs, are known from as early as the Late Triassic. Here, we present numerous, well-provenanced, Late Triassic and Early Jurassic tridactyl tracks from southern Africa, with demonstrable bird-like affinities, predating basal bird body fossils by c. 60 million years.

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Kurochkin, Evgeny N., Gareth J. Dyke, Sergei V. Saveliev, Evgeny M. Pervushov, and Evgeny V. Popov. "A fossil brain from the Cretaceous of European Russia and avian sensory evolution." Biology Letters 3, no. 3 (April 10, 2007): 309–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2006.0617.

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Fossils preserving traces of soft anatomy are rare in the fossil record; even rarer is evidence bearing on the size and shape of sense organs that provide us with insights into mode of life. Here, we describe unique fossil preservation of an avian brain from the Volgograd region of European Russia. The brain of this Melovatka bird is similar in shape and morphology to those of known fossil ornithurines (the lineage that includes living birds), such as the marine diving birds Hesperornis and Enaliornis , but documents a new stage in avian sensory evolution: acute nocturnal vision coupled with well-developed hearing and smell, developed by the Late Cretaceous ( ca 90 Myr ago). This fossil also provides insights into previous ‘bird-like’ brain reconstructions for the most basal avian Archaeopteryx —reduction of olfactory lobes (sense of smell) and enlargement of the hindbrain (cerebellum) occurred subsequent to Archaeopteryx in avian evolution, closer to the ornithurine lineage that comprises living birds. The Melovatka bird also suggests that brain enlargement in early avians was not correlated with the evolution of powered flight.

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Moyer, Alison E., Wenxia Zheng, and Mary H. Schweitzer. "Microscopic and immunohistochemical analyses of the claw of the nesting dinosaur, Citipati osmolskae." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 283, no. 1842 (November 16, 2016): 20161997. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.1997.

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One of the most well-recognized Cretaceous fossils is Citipati osmolskae (MPC-D 100/979), an oviraptorid dinosaur discovered in brooding position on a nest of unhatched eggs. The original description refers to a thin lens of white material extending from a manus ungual, which was proposed to represent original keratinous claw sheath that, in life, would have covered it. Here, we test the hypothesis that this exceptional morphological preservation extends to the molecular level. The fossil sheath was compared with that of extant birds, revealing similar morphology and microstructural organization. In living birds, the claw sheath consists primarily of two structural proteins; alpha-keratin, expressed in all vertebrates, and beta-keratin, found only in reptiles and birds (sauropsids). We employed antibodies raised against avian feathers, which comprise almost entirely of beta-keratin, to demonstrate that fossil tissues respond with the same specificity, though less intensity, as those from living birds. Furthermore, we show that calcium chelation greatly increased antibody reactivity, suggesting a role for calcium in the preservation of this fossil material.

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Ksepka, Daniel T., and Clint A. Boyd. "Quantifying historical trends in the completeness of the fossil record and the contributing factors: an example using Aves." Paleobiology 38, no. 1 (2012): 112–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0094837300000439.

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Improvements in the perceived completeness of the fossil record may be driven both by new discoveries and by reinterpretation of known fossils, but disentangling the relative effects of these processes can be difficult. Here, we propose a new methodology for evaluating historical trends in the perceived completeness of the fossil record, demonstrate its implementation using the freely available software ASCC (version 4.0.0), and present an example using crown-group birds (Aves). Dates of discovery and recognition for the oldest fossil representatives of 75 major lineages of birds were collected for the historical period ranging from 1910 to 2010. Using a comprehensive phylogeny, we calculated minimum implied stratigraphic gaps (MIG range) across these 75 lineages. Our results show that a reduction in global MIG values of 1.35 Ga (billion years) occurred over the past century in avian paleontology. A pronounced increase in the average rate of global MIG reduction is noted in the post-1970s interval (290.5 Myr per decade) compared to the pre-1970s interval (31.9 Myr per decade). Although the majority of the improvement in the fossil record of birds has come from new discoveries, substantial improvement (∼22.5%) has resulted from restudy and phylogenetic revision of previously described fossils over the last 40 years. With a minimum estimate indicating that at least 1.34 Gyr of gaps remain to be filled between the predicted and observed first appearances of major lineages of crown Aves, there is much progress to be made. However, a notable tapering off in the rate of global MIG reduction occurs between 1990 and 2010, suggesting we may be approaching an asymptote of oldest record discoveries for birds. Only future observations can determine whether this is a real pattern or a historical anomaly. Either way, barring the discovery of fossils that substantially push back the minimum age for the origin of crown-clade Aves, new discoveries cannot continue to reduce global MIG values at the average post-1970s rate over the long term.

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Wood, Casey A. "The Fossil Eggs of Bermudan Birds." Ibis 65, no. 2 (June 28, 2008): 193–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919x.1923.tb08212.x.

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Louchart, Antoine. "Fossil birds of the Kibish Formation." Journal of Human Evolution 55, no. 3 (September 2008): 513–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.06.002.

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Morrison, Kurt, Gareth J. Dyke, and Luis M. Chiappe. "Cretaceous fossil birds from Hornby Island (British Columbia)." Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 42, no. 12 (December 1, 2005): 2097–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e05-081.

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We present the first records of Mesozoic fossil birds to be described from British Columbia. New fossil avians from the Campanian Northumberland Formation on Hornby Island (Strait of Georgia) add to the known distributions of two groups of fossil birds during the latter stage of the Mesozoic. New specimens referred to the clades Ornithurae and Enantiornithes demonstrate the presence of a diverse marine avifauna in Canadian Pacific marine sediments prior to the CretaceousTertiary (KT) boundary. These new fossil bird remains from coastal rocks on the west coast of British Columbia lend further support to suggestions that ocean-going birds were important constituents of marine ecosystems in the terminal stages of the Mesozoic.

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Dalsätt, Johan, Thomas Mörs, and Per G. P. Ericson. "Fossil birds from the Miocene and Pliocene of Hambach (NW Germany)." Palaeontographica Abteilung A 277, no. 1-6 (October 30, 2006): 113–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/pala/277/2006/113.

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Dyke, Gareth J., and Cyril A. Walker. "New records of fossil birds from the Pliocene of Kallo, Belgium." Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte 2005, no. 4 (April 25, 2005): 233–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/njgpm/2005/2005/233.

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12

Goedert, James L. "Giant late Eocene marine birds (Pelecaniformes: Pelagornithidae) from northwestern Oregon." Journal of Paleontology 63, no. 6 (November 1989): 939–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022336000036647.

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Fossil bird bones from the late Eocene Keasey Formation and the latest Eocene Pittsburg Bluff Formation in northwestern Oregon are the earliest records of the pelecaniform family Pelagornithidae for the Pacific Basin. These fossils also represent the first late Eocene records of the family from the Northern Hemisphere, the second late Eocene record worldwide, and indicate that these animals were among the largest of flying birds. Unfortunately, the fragmentary condition of these fossils and the currently confused state of pelagornithid systematics prevents the assignment of these specimens to new species at this time.

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Feduccia, Alan. "Cretaceous Reverie: Review of Birds of Stone: Chinese Avian Fossils from the Age of Dinosaurs by Luis M. Chiappe and Meng Qingjin1." Open Ornithology Journal 11, no. 1 (February 12, 2018): 27–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1874453201811010027.

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Birds of Stone contains a portfolio of outstanding photographs of the spectacularly preserved Jehol bird fossils, from the Chinese Lower Cretaceous, and other pertinent vertebrate fossils of varying ages, along with comments on each fossil. The book nicely illustrates a range of species of the radiation of enantiornithines (opposite birds), the dominant Mesozoic landbirds, as well as the ornithuromorphs, the Mesozoic antecedents of the modern neornithine birds. Although the first section of the book is fairly straight forward, the second section, on bird origins and their early evolution is one-sided, presenting only the popular paleontological view and omits discussion of controversial subjects. Examples are the highly speculative presence of dinosaur protofeathers and improbable scenarios of flight origins. There are no citations of the numerous credible opposing views in the literature.

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Tsai, Cheng-Hsiu, and Gerald Mayr. "A phasianid bird from the Pleistocene of Tainan: the very first avian fossil from Taiwan." Journal of Ornithology 162, no. 3 (April 14, 2021): 919–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10336-021-01886-w.

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AbstractTaiwan accommodates more than 600 avian species, including about 30 endemic ones. As yet, however, no fossil birds have been scientifically documented from Taiwan, so that the evolutionary origins of this diversified avifauna remain elusive. Here we report on the very first fossil bird from Taiwan. This Pleistocene specimen, a distal end of the left tarsometatarsus, shows diagnostic features of the galliform Phasianidae, including an asymmetric plantar articular facet trochlea metatarsi III. Our discovery of a Pleistocene phasianid from Taiwan opens a new perspective on studies of the evolution of the avifauna in Taiwan because the fossil shows that careful search for fossils in suitable localities has the potential of recovering avian remains. In general, East Asia has an extremely poor avian fossil record, especially if terrestrial birds are concerned, which impedes well-founded evolutionary scenarios concerning the arrival of certain groups in the area. The Phasianidae exhibit a high degree of endemism in Taiwan, and the new fossil presents the first physical evidence for the presence of phasianids on the island, some 400,000–800,000 years ago. The specimen belongs to a species the size of the three larger phasianids occurring in Taiwan today (Syrmaticus mikado, Lophura swinhoii, and Phasianus colchicus). Still, an unambiguous assignment to either of these species is not possible due to the incomplete nature of the left tarsometatarsus. Because the former two species are endemic to Taiwan, the fossil has the potential to yield the first data on their existence in the geological past of Taiwan if future finds allow identification on species-level.

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Dyke, Gareth J., David M. Waterhous, and Anette V. Kristoffersen. "Three new fossil landbirds from the early Paleogene of Denmark." Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark 51 (October 22, 2004): 77–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.37570/bgsd-2004-51-06.

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Well-preserved remains of fossil modern birds are rare, especially from the earliest stages of their evolution. In this paper we describe three new fossil specimens that can be referred to two of the major clades of extant ‘landbirds’, namely Apodiformes (‘swifts’) and Coliiformes (‘mousebirds’). Because the fossils presented here are from the earliest tertiary of Denmark, they represent some of the oldest certain records for both these major clades of modern birds (Neornithes). This new material, from the Paleocene – Lower Eocene Fur Formation (Isle-of-Mors, Jutland, Denmark) is referred to the fossil apodiform genus Eocypselus Harrison, 1984 and the coliiform genus Chascacocolius Houde & Olson, 1992. Eocypselus has been referred to within the clade Hemiprocnidae (‘tree and crested swifts’) and Chascacocolius to the Sandcoleidae, a clade of stem representatives of extant Coliiformes. The description of Chascacocolius from the Danish early tertiary increases the known diversity of stem-lineage coliiforms (Sandcoleidae) known from European deposits. New fossil material of Eocypselus shows that this taxon was a perching bird as are extant hemiprocnids – the hindlimb and foot of Eocypselus is elongate and anisodactyl, with digit III the longest of the pedal digits. Swifts and mousebirds are known to have been diverse in the earliest tertiary of Europe and North America; both these neornithine clades have a much lower extant diversity in terms of known species than that evidenced by their global fossil records, a temporal effect perhaps related to global cooling throughout the latest Tertiary.

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Ksepka, Daniel T., Thomas A. Stidham, and Thomas E. Williamson. "Early Paleocene landbird supports rapid phylogenetic and morphological diversification of crown birds after the K–Pg mass extinction." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114, no. 30 (July 10, 2017): 8047–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1700188114.

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Evidence is accumulating for a rapid diversification of birds following the K–Pg extinction. Recent molecular divergence dating studies suggest that birds radiated explosively during the first few million years of the Paleocene; however, fossils from this interval remain poorly represented, hindering our understanding of morphological and ecological specialization in early neoavian birds. Here we report a small fossil bird from the Nacimiento Formation of New Mexico, constrained to 62.221–62.517 Ma. This partial skeleton represents the oldest arboreal crown group bird known. Phylogenetic analyses recoveredTsidiiyazhi abinigen. et sp. nov. as a member of the Sandcoleidae, an extinct basal clade of stem mousebirds (Coliiformes). The discovery ofTsidiiyazhipushes the minimum divergence ages of as many as nine additional major neoavian lineages into the earliest Paleocene, compressing the duration of the proposed explosive post–K–Pg radiation of modern birds into a very narrow temporal window parallel to that suggested for placental mammals. Simultaneously,Tsidiiyazhiprovides evidence for the rapid morphological (and likely ecological) diversification of crown birds. Features of the foot indicate semizygodactyly (the ability to facultatively reverse the fourth pedal digit), and the arcuate arrangement of the pedal trochleae bears a striking resemblance to the conformation in owls (Strigiformes). Inclusion of fossil taxa and branch length estimates impacts ancestral state reconstructions, revealing support for the independent evolution of semizygodactyly in Coliiformes, Leptosomiformes, and Strigiformes, none of which is closely related to extant clades exhibiting full zygodactyly.

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Vinther, Jakob, Derek E. G. Briggs, Julia Clarke, Gerald Mayr, and Richard O. Prum. "Structural coloration in a fossil feather." Biology Letters 6, no. 1 (August 26, 2009): 128–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2009.0524.

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Investigation of feathers from the famous Middle Eocene Messel Oil Shale near Darmstadt, Germany shows that they are preserved as arrays of fossilized melanosomes, the surrounding beta-keratin having degraded. The majority of feathers are preserved as aligned rod-shaped eumelanosomes. In some, however, the barbules of the open pennaceous, distal portion of the feather vane are preserved as a continuous external layer of closely packed melanosomes enclosing loosely aligned melanosomes. This arrangement is similar to the single thin-film nanostructure that generates an iridescent, structurally coloured sheen on the surface of black feathers in many lineages of living birds. This is, to our knowledge, the first evidence of preservation of a colour-producing nanostructure in a fossil feather and confirms the potential for determining colour differences in ancient birds and other dinosaurs.

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Widrig, Klara, and Daniel J. Field. "The Evolution and Fossil Record of Palaeognathous Birds (Neornithes: Palaeognathae)." Diversity 14, no. 2 (February 1, 2022): 105. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d14020105.

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The extant diversity of the avian clade Palaeognathae is composed of the iconic flightless ratites (ostriches, rheas, kiwi, emus, and cassowaries), and the volant tinamous of Central and South America. Palaeognaths were once considered a classic illustration of diversification driven by Gondwanan vicariance, but this paradigm has been rejected in light of molecular phylogenetic and divergence time results from the last two decades that indicate that palaeognaths underwent multiple relatively recent transitions to flightlessness and large body size, reinvigorating research into their evolutionary origins and historical biogeography. This revised perspective on palaeognath macroevolution has highlighted lingering gaps in our understanding of how, when, and where extant palaeognath diversity arose. Towards resolving those questions, we aim to comprehensively review the known fossil record of palaeognath skeletal remains, and to summarize the current state of knowledge of their evolutionary history. Total clade palaeognaths appear to be one of a small handful of crown bird lineages that crossed the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, but gaps in their Paleogene fossil record and a lack of Cretaceous fossils preclude a detailed understanding of their multiple transitions to flightlessness and large body size, and recognizable members of extant subclades generally do not appear until the Neogene. Despite these knowledge gaps, we combine what is known from the fossil record of palaeognaths with plausible divergence time estimates, suggesting a relatively rapid pace of diversification and phenotypic evolution in the early Cenozoic. In line with some recent authors, we surmise that the most recent common ancestor of palaeognaths was likely a relatively small-bodied, ground-feeding bird, features that may have facilitated total-clade palaeognath survivorship through the K-Pg mass extinction, and which may bear on the ecological habits of the ancestral crown bird.

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DYKE, GARETH J. "The phylogenetic position of Gallinuloides Eastman (Aves: Galliformes) from the Tertiary of North America." Zootaxa 199, no. 1 (May 19, 2003): 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.199.1.1.

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I have extended a recent phylogenetic analysis of morphological characters for galliform birds (pheasants, grouse, partridges and allies) to investigate the placement of the enigmatic fossil Gallinuloides wyomingensis Eastman. This analysis shows that, contrary to most previous interpretations, the fossil Gallinuloides is a basal member of the ‘phasianoid’ assemblage within Galliformes—not basal within the order as has been previously proposed. This conclusion is supported by several clear osteological features preserved on the holotype and only currently described specimen of this enigmatic fossil bird. Resolving the evolutionary relationships of Gallinuloides is of importance because this fossil taxon has proved a key player in debates regarding the timing of the diversification of all modern birds (Neornithes)—Gallinuloides has been used as both an internal and external fossil calibration point for molecular clock hypotheses dealing with the pattern and timing of the neornithine evolutionary radiation.

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Vinther, Jakob, Derek E. G. Briggs, Richard O. Prum, and Vinodkumar Saranathan. "The colour of fossil feathers." Biology Letters 4, no. 5 (July 8, 2008): 522–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0302.

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Feathers are complex integumentary appendages of birds and some other theropod dinosaurs. They are frequently coloured and function in camouflage and display. Previous investigations have concluded that fossil feathers are preserved as carbonized traces composed of feather-degrading bacteria. Here, an investigation of a colour-banded feather from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil revealed that the dark bands are preserved as elongate, oblate carbonaceous bodies 1–2 μm long, whereas the light bands retain only relief traces on the rock matrix. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis showed that the dark bands preserve a substantial amount of carbon, whereas the light bands show no carbon residue. Comparison of these oblate fossil bodies with the structure of black feathers from a living bird indicates that they are the eumelanin-containing melanosomes. We conclude that most fossil feathers are preserved as melanosomes, and that the distribution of these structures in fossil feathers can preserve the colour pattern in the original feather. The discovery of preserved melanosomes opens up the possibility of interpreting the colour of extinct birds and other dinosaurs.

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Perkins, Sid. "Fossil Birds Sport a New Kind of Feather." Science News 158, no. 24 (December 9, 2000): 374. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/4018707.

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NASCIMENTO, RAFAEL, and LUÍS FÁBIO SILVEIRA. "The Fossil Birds of Peter Lund." Zootaxa 4743, no. 4 (February 27, 2020): 480–510. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4743.4.2.

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The Danish naturalist Peter Wilhelm Lund (1801–1880), regarded as the father of Brazilian palaeontology and archaeology, is known mainly for his work with fossil mammals of Quaternary age from the limestone caves of the Lagoa Santa region in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. However, during one decade of fieldwork (1835–1844), he also collected a large number of remains of other animal groups from these caves. Birds were well represented and, following assessment by the Danish ornithologist Oluf Winge (1855–1889), most of the specimens collected by Lund belong to species still living in the area. Here we present an overview of the bird remains (fossil and recent), found by Lund and others in the region, we update their taxonomic attributions, and comment on the history of the material, making information previously published only in Danish available in English.

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Vogel, Gretchen. "Oldest fossil of modern birds is a ‘turducken’." Science 367, no. 6484 (March 19, 2020): 1290. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.367.6484.1290.

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Gibbons, A. "Paleontology: Early Birds Rise From China Fossil Beds." Science 274, no. 5290 (November 15, 1996): 1083–0. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.274.5290.1083.

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Mayr, Gerald. "The Paleogene fossil record of birds in Europe." Biological Reviews 80, no. 04 (April 29, 2005): 515. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1464793105006779.

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Qvarnström, Martin, Joel Vikberg Wernström, Rafał Piechowski, Mateusz Tałanda, Per E. Ahlberg, and Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki. "Beetle-bearing coprolites possibly reveal the diet of a Late Triassic dinosauriform." Royal Society Open Science 6, no. 3 (March 2019): 181042. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.181042.

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Diets of extinct animals can be difficult to analyse if no direct evidence, such as gut contents, is preserved in association with body fossils. Inclusions from coprolites (fossil faeces), however, may also reflect the diet of the host animal and become especially informative if the coprolite producer link can be established. Here we describe, based on propagation phase-contrast synchrotron microtomography (PPC-SRμCT), the contents of five morphologically similar coprolites collected from two fossil-bearing intervals from the highly fossiliferous Upper Triassic locality at Krasiejów in Silesia, Poland. Beetle remains, mostly elytra, and unidentified exoskeleton fragments of arthropods are the most conspicuous inclusions found in the coprolites. The abundance of these inclusions suggests that the coprolite producer deliberately targeted beetles and similar small terrestrial invertebrates as prey, but the relatively large size of the coprolites shows that it was not itself a small animal. The best candidate from the body fossil record of the locality is the dinosauriform Silesaurus opolensis Dzik, 2003, which had an anatomy in several ways similar to those of bird-like neotheropod dinosaurs and modern birds. We hypothesize that the beak-like jaws of S. opolensis were used to efficiently peck small insects off the ground, a feeding behaviour analogous to some extant birds.

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Mayr, Gerald. "On the occurrence of lateral openings and fossae (pleurocoels) in the thoracic vertebrae of neornithine birds and their functional significance." Vertebrate Zoology 71 (August 5, 2021): 453–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/vz.71.e71268.

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Abstract The occurrence of lateral openings and pleurocoels (lateral fossae) in the corpus of the thoracic vertebrae of extant and fossil neornithine birds is reviewed, with both features having been identified as osteological correlates of the avian pulmonary system. Openings mainly occur in larger species with a high overall bone pneumatization but do not seem to serve for the passage of lung or air sac diverticula. Pleurocoels, on the other hand, are not directly related to pneumatic features and constitute a plesiomorphic trait that was widespread in Mesozoic non-neornithine birds. It is noted that an inverse correlation exists between the occurrence of pleurocoels and the pneumatization of the humerus, with pleurocoels being mainly found in extant and fossil taxa, in which the humerus is not pneumatized by diverticula of the clavicular air sac. Here it is hypothesized that pleurocoels primarily serve to increase the structural resistance of the vertebral body and were reduced multiple times in neornithine birds. In some taxa, their reduction may be related to the development of the furcula, which assists ventilation of the clavicular and cervical air sacs and may thereby contribute to the pneumatization of both, the humerus and the thoracic vertebrae. If so, Mesozoic non-neornithine birds, which had a rigid furcula with massive shafts as well as non-pneumatic humeri and pronounced pleurocoels, are likely to have differed in functional aspects of their air sac system from extant birds.

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Rayner, Jeremy M. V. "Mechanics and physiology of flight in fossil vertebrates." Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 80, no. 3-4 (1989): 311–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0263593300028753.

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ABSTRACTFlight—defined as the ability to produce useful aerodynamic forces by flapping wings—is one of the most demanding adaptations in vertebrates. The mechanical problems of flight ensure considerable external morphological homogeneity and behavioural similarity in extant fliers. Observations of the vortex wakes and wingbeat geometry of modern birds and bats confirm that the two groups are mechanically very similar, despite differences in phylogeny, anatomy and physiology. With this background it is possible to attack two problems: the evolution of flight in vertebrates, and the flight performance of extinct animals such as pterosaurs and Archaeopteryx.The origin of flight has been surrounded by considerable controversy, due in part to terminological inconsistencies, in part to phylogenetic uncertainty over the relationships of birds, bats and pterosaurs, in part to disagreement over the interpretation of the available fossil evidence, and in part to argument over the relative importance of morphological, mechanical and ecological specialisations. The mechanical changes needed in the course of the evolution of flight favour a gliding origin of tetrapod flight, and on mechanical and ecological grounds the alternative cursorial hypothesis may be discounted. This argument is particularly strong in bats, but has been thought to be weaker in birds owing to apparent inconsistencies with the fossil evidence. However, fossils of the Jurassic theropod dinosaur Archaeopteryx also support a gliding origin for flight, and suggest that this animal was adapted for flapping flight at moderately high speeds associated with gliding; it could fly less well at the slow speeds which would have been required for incipient flight in a running cursor, and at which the wingbeat is aerodynamically and kinematically considerably more complex. Slow flight in birds and bats is the more derived condition, and vertebrate flapping flight apparently evolved through a gliding stage.The pterosaurs have become the subject of much controversy over the nature of their stance, the wing surface, and the degree of involvement of the leg in the wing membrane. Reconstruction of their wings indicates proficient flying animals, and comparison with birds suggests that most pterosaurs probably occupied marine or coastal/estuarine habitat.

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Mayr, Gerald, and Volker Wilde. "Eocene fossil is earliest evidence of flower-visiting by birds." Biology Letters 10, no. 5 (May 2014): 20140223. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2014.0223.

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Birds are important pollinators, but the evolutionary history of ornithophily (bird pollination) is poorly known. Here, we report a skeleton of the avian taxon Pumiliornis from the middle Eocene of Messel in Germany with preserved stomach contents containing numerous pollen grains of an eudicotyledonous angiosperm. The skeletal morphology of Pumiliornis is in agreement with this bird having been a, presumably nectarivorous, flower-visitor. It represents the earliest and first direct fossil evidence of flower-visiting by birds and indicates a minimum age of 47 million years for the origin of bird–flower interactions. As Pumiliornis does not belong to any of the modern groups of flower-visiting birds, the origin of ornithophily in some angiosperm lineages may have predated that of their extant avian pollinators.

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Smith, Vincent S., Tom Ford, Kevin P. Johnson, Paul C. D. Johnson, Kazunori Yoshizawa, and Jessica E. Light. "Multiple lineages of lice pass through the K–Pg boundary." Biology Letters 7, no. 5 (April 6, 2011): 782–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2011.0105.

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For modern lineages of birds and mammals, few fossils have been found that predate the Cretaceous–Palaeogene (K–Pg) boundary. However, molecular studies using fossil calibrations have shown that many of these lineages existed at that time. Both birds and mammals are parasitized by obligate ectoparasitic lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera), which have shared a long coevolutionary history with their hosts. Evaluating whether many lineages of lice passed through the K–Pg boundary would provide insight into the radiation of their hosts. Using molecular dating techniques, we demonstrate that the major louse suborders began to radiate before the K–Pg boundary. These data lend support to a Cretaceous diversification of many modern bird and mammal lineages.

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Giffin, Emily B. "Gross spinal anatomy and limb use in living and fossil reptiles." Paleobiology 16, no. 4 (1990): 448–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0094837300010186.

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The spinal quotient (S.Q.) is an osteologically defined estimate of the enlargement of the spinal cord at limb levels over that at interlimb levels. It is an efficient predictor of limb use in living reptiles and birds and may be used to predict limb function in fossil vertebrates. Among living reptiles, this ratio of limb to interlimb innervation is greatest in arboreal genera, followed by terrestrial sprawlers, aquatic forms, and undulatory forms. Birds show a wide range of brachial S.Q. values that are roughly commensurate with flight ability. S.Q. values for the manipulative forelimbs of some dinosaurs fall well above those of locomotory limbs. Dinosaur hind-limb values are either well within ranges predicted by living reptiles and birds (most taxa), or highly inflated (stegosaurs, sauropods). This inflation may be the result of presence of a glycogen body similar to that of birds. In no case does the lumbosacral S.Q. support the presence of a “sacral brain.”

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Talori, Yaser Saffar, Jing-Shan Zhao, and Jingmai K. O'Connor. "Kinematics of wings from Caudipteryx to modern birds." Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science 236, no. 8 (November 4, 2021): 4073–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09544062211048796.

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This study seeks to better quantify the parameters that drove the evolution of flight from non-volant winged dinosaurs to modern birds. In order to explore this issue, we used fossil data to model the feathered forelimbs of Caudipteryx, the most basal non-volant maniraptoran dinosaur with elongated pennaceous feathers that could be described as forming proto-wings. In order to quantify the limiting flight factors, we created three hypothetical wing profiles for Caudipteryx with incrementally larger wingspans. We compared them with what revealed through fossils in wing morphology. These four models were analyzed under varying air speed, wing beat amplitude, and wing beat frequency to determine lift, thrust potential, and metabolic requirements. We tested these models using theoretical equations in order to mathematically describe the evolutionary changes observed during the evolution of modern birds from a winged terrestrial theropod like Caudipteryx. Caudipteryx could not fly, but this research indicates that with a large enough wing span, Caudipteryx-like animal could have flown. The results of these analyses mathematically confirm that during the evolution of energetically efficient powered flight in derived maniraptorans, body weight had to decrease and wing area/wing profile needed to increase together with the flapping angle and surface area for the attachment of the flight muscles. This study quantifies the morphological changes that we observe in the pennaraptoran fossil record in the overall decrease in body size in paravians, the increased wing surface area in Archaeopteryx relative to Caudipteryx, and changes observed in the morphology of the thoracic girdle, namely, the orientation of the glenoid and the enlargement of the sternum.

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Canoville, Aurore, Mary H. Schweitzer, and Lindsay Zanno. "Identifying medullary bone in extinct avemetatarsalians: challenges, implications and perspectives." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 375, no. 1793 (January 13, 2020): 20190133. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0133.

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Medullary bone (MB) is a sex-specific tissue produced by female birds during the laying cycle, and it is hypothesized to have arisen within Avemetatarsalia, possibly outside Avialae. Over the years, researchers have attempted to define a set of criteria from which to evaluate the nature of purported MB-like tissues recovered from fossil specimens. However, we argue that the prevalence, microstructural and chemical variability of MB in Neornithes is, as of yet, incompletely known and thus current diagnoses of MB do not capture the extent of variability that exists in modern birds. Based on recently published data and our own observations of MB distribution and structure using computed tomography and histochemistry, we attempt to advance the discourse on identifying MB in fossil specimens. We propose: (i) new insights into the phylogenetic breadth and structural diversity of MB within extant birds; (ii) a reevaluation and refinement of the most recently published list of criteria suggested for confidently identifying MB in the fossil record; (iii) reconsideration of some prior identifications of MB-like tissues in fossil specimens by taking into account the newly acquired data; and (iv) discussions on the challenges of characterizing MB in Neornithes with the goal of improving its diagnosis in extinct avemetatarsalians. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Vertebrate palaeophysiology’.

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Hutchinson, John R., and Stephen M. Gatesy. "Adductors, abductors, and the evolution of archosaur locomotion." Paleobiology 26, no. 4 (2000): 734–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1666/0094-8373(2000)026<0734:aaateo>2.0.co;2.

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Living crocodilians (Crocodylia) and birds (Neornithes) differ in many aspects of hindlimb anatomy and locomotor function. How did this disparity evolve? We integrate information from fossils with functional descriptions of locomotion in living crocodilians and birds, using a phylogenetic perspective. We then outline the major changes in three-dimensional control of the hip joint along the line from the ancestral archosaur to birds. Our analysis reveals that most aspects of hip morphology and function in Alligator are ancestral for Archosauria. Femoral protractors and retractors are located cranial and caudal to the hip, respectively. Similarly, femoral adductors and abductors are located ventral and dorsal to the hip. Transformations of this ancestral pattern on the line to birds involved modifications in osteology, myology, and neural control. In some cases, homologous muscles changed function by acquiring new activity patterns. In others, activity was conserved, but origins and/or insertions were altered. Fossil theropods document the stepwise evolution of a novel mechanism of limb adduction/abduction involving long-axis rotation of the femur. This mechanism accounts for the conspicuous absence of significant musculature ventral and dorsal to the hip joint in extant birds.

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Sanz, José Luis, and Francisco Ortega. "The Birds from Las Hoyas." Science Progress 85, no. 2 (May 2002): 113–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.3184/003685002783238843.

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Information on the first steps of the avian evolutionary history has dramatically increased during the last few years. The fossil record provides a general view of the morphological changes of the avian flight apparatus from non-volant ancestors (non-avian theropod dinosaurs) to the first derived fliers of the Early Cretaceous. The Las Hoyas bird record includes three genera: Iberomesornis, Concornis and Eoalulavis. This fossil material has yielded information about the early avian evolutionary history. These Early Cretaceous birds (some 120 Myr old) had a wingbeat cycle and breathing devices similar to those of extant birds. The function of the rectricial fan was also similar. In the evolutionary transition from cursorial ancestors to derived fliers it is possible to verify a trend to increase lift. Primitive wing aspect ratio morphotypes were elliptical ones, other derived morphotypes appeared, for example, in the Neornithes (extant birds). Some primitive fliers, like the Las Hoyas genus Eoalulavis, had an alula (feathers attached to the first digit of the hand) similar to that of present day birds, indicating braking and manoeuvring skills similar to those of their extant relatives. Primitive avian life habits are poorly understood. Some evidence from the Las Hoyas bird record indicates that Early Cretaceous birds were present in the trophic chains.

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BOCHENSKI, ZBIGNIEW M., KRZYSZTOF WERTZ, TERESA TOMEK, and LEONID GOROBETS. "A new species of the late Miocene charadriiform bird (Aves: Charadriiformes), with a summary of all Paleogene and Miocene Charadrii remains." Zootaxa 4624, no. 1 (June 27, 2019): 41–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4624.1.3.

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A new species, Cherevychnavis umanskae sp. nov., (Aves: Charadriiformes) from the late Miocene of Ukraine is described, and all known fossils of the suborder Charadrii from the Paleogene and Miocene are summarized. The combination of preserved characters allows us to assign the new species to the suborder Charadrii but its more exact systematic position remains uncertain. Morphologically, the new species is most similar to the extant Haematopus and Recurvirostra, and in terms of size to Haematopus, but it clearly differs from all extant genera of Charadrii. The current remains fill the temporal and spatial gaps in the fossil record of charadriiform birds; they constitute the first record of the Charadrii in eastern-most Europe, and add to our still insufficient knowledge of the late Miocene birds.

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Sánchez-Marco, Antonio. "Old and new fossil birds from the Spanish Miocene." Journal of Iberian Geology 47, no. 4 (October 4, 2021): 697–712. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s41513-021-00178-9.

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38

Sánchez-Marco, Antonio. "Old and new fossil birds from the Spanish Miocene." Journal of Iberian Geology 47, no. 4 (October 4, 2021): 697–712. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s41513-021-00178-9.

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Fountaine, Toby M. R., Michael J. Benton, Gareth J. Dyke, and Robert L. Nudds. "The quality of the fossil record of Mesozoic birds." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 272, no. 1560 (February 4, 2005): 289–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2004.2923.

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Balouet, Jean Christophe, and Storrs L. Olson. "Fossil birds from late Quaternary deposits in New Caledonia." Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, no. 469 (1989): 1–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.00810282.469.

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Hood, Sarah C., Chris R. Torres, Mark A. Norell, and Julia A. Clarke. "New Fossil Birds from the Earliest Eocene of Mongolia." American Museum Novitates 2019, no. 3934 (August 9, 2019): 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.1206/3934.1.

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Gibbons, A. "Paleontology: New Feathered Fossil Brings Dinosaurs and Birds Closer." Science 274, no. 5288 (November 1, 1996): 720–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.274.5288.720.

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Worthy, Trevor H., and Jacqueline M. T. Nguyen. "An annotated checklist of the fossil birds of Australia." Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 144, no. 1 (January 2, 2020): 66–108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03721426.2020.1756560.

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Schmitz, Lars. "Quantitative estimates of visual performance features in fossil birds." Journal of Morphology 270, no. 6 (June 2009): 759–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmor.10720.

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Chávez-Hoffmeister, Martín. "Bill disparity and feeding strategies among fossil and modern penguins." Paleobiology 46, no. 2 (March 3, 2020): 176–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pab.2020.10.

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AbstractOne of the most remarkable differences between Paleogene penguins and their living relatives is the shape and length of their beaks. Many of the Eocene and Oligocene penguins have a thin and elongated spear-like bill, which contrasts with the proportionally shorter and more robust bill of most living species. These differences suggest an important shift in their feeding strategies. This study explores the morphological disparity on the skull of penguins, emphasizing bill morphology and it relationship with feeding habits. For this, the skulls of 118 species of aquatic birds, including 21 fossil and living penguins, were analyzed using two-dimensional geometric morphometric. The results show that, unlike what has been reported for modern birds overall, in penguins and Aequornithes, bill elongation is related to a reduction of the braincase. The discriminant analysis shows that there are significant differences between penguins that feed near or far from the coast and between those that consume nectonic and planktonic prey, identifying Madrynornis as the only extinct form with a possibly planktonic diet. Additionally, it is clear that Paleogene penguins occupy a region of morphospace unexplored by most diving birds, with the western grebe being their closest modern analogue. This is consistent with the hypothesis that giant penguins hunted by harpooning and not by biting as living forms do, signaling a significant change in the habits of those birds leading to the emergence of their crown group.

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Carvalho, Ismar de Souza, Fernando E. Novas, Federico L. Agnolín, Marcelo P. Isasi, Francisco I. Freitas, and José A. Andrade. "A new genus and species of enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil." Brazilian Journal of Geology 45, no. 2 (June 2015): 161–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/23174889201500020001.

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<p>The fossil record of birds in Gondwana is almost restricted to the Late Cretaceous. Herein we describe a new fossil from the Araripe Basin, <italic>Cratoavis cearensis</italic> nov. gen et sp., composed of an articulated skeleton with feathers attached to the wings and surrounding the body. The present discovery considerably extends the temporal record of the Enantiornithes birds at South America to the Early Cretaceous. For the first time, an almost complete and articulated skeleton of an Early Cretaceous bird from South America is documented.</p>

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Grimaldi, David, and Michael S. Engel. "Fossil Liposcelididae and the lice ages (Insecta: Psocodea)." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 273, no. 1586 (December 6, 2005): 625–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3337.

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Fossilized, winged adults belonging to the psocopteran family Liposcelididae are reported in amber from the mid-Cretaceous ( ca 100 Myr) of Myanmar (described as Cretoscelis burmitica , gen. et sp. n.) and the Miocene ( ca 20 Myr) of the Dominican Republic ( Belaphopsocus dominicus sp. n.). Cretoscelis is an extinct sister group to all other Liposcelididae and the family is the free-living sister group to the true lice (order Phthiraptera, all of which are ectoparasites of birds and mammals). A phylogenetic hypothesis of relationships among genera of Liposcelididae, including fossils, reveals perfect correspondence between the chronology of fossils and cladistic rank of taxa. Lice and Liposcelididae minimally diverged 100 Myr, perhaps even in the earliest Cretaceous 145 Myr or earlier, in which case the hosts of lice would have been early mammals, early birds and possibly other feathered theropod dinosaurs, as well as haired pterosaurs.

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Wang, Min, and Graeme T. Lloyd. "Rates of morphological evolution are heterogeneous in Early Cretaceous birds." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 283, no. 1828 (April 13, 2016): 20160214. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.0214.

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The Early Cretaceous is a critical interval in the early history of birds. Exceptional fossils indicate that important evolutionary novelties such as a pygostyle and a keeled sternum had already arisen in Early Cretaceous taxa, bridging much of the morphological gap between Archaeopteryx and crown birds. However, detailed features of basal bird evolution remain obscure because of both the small sample of fossil taxa previously considered and a lack of quantitative studies assessing rates of morphological evolution. Here we apply a recently available phylogenetic method and associated sensitivity tests to a large data matrix of morphological characters to quantify rates of morphological evolution in Early Cretaceous birds. Our results reveal that although rates were highly heterogeneous between different Early Cretaceous avian lineages, consistent patterns of significantly high or low rates were harder to pinpoint. Nevertheless, evidence for accelerated evolutionary rates is strongest at the point when Ornithuromorpha (the clade comprises all extant birds and descendants from their most recent common ancestors) split from Enantiornithes (a diverse clade that went extinct at the end-Cretaceous), consistent with the hypothesis that this key split opened up new niches and ultimately led to greater diversity for these two dominant clades of Mesozoic birds.

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Bell, Alyssa, and Luis M. Chiappe. "The Hesperornithiformes: A Review of the Diversity, Distribution, and Ecology of the Earliest Diving Birds." Diversity 14, no. 4 (April 1, 2022): 267. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d14040267.

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The Hesperornithiformes (sometimes referred to as Hesperornithes) are the first known birds to have adapted to a fully aquatic lifestyle, appearing in the fossil record as flightless, foot-propelled divers in the early Late Cretaceous. Their known fossil record—broadly distributed across the Northern Hemisphere—shows a relatively rapid diversification into a wide range of body sizes and degrees of adaptation to the water, from the small Enaliornis and Pasquiaornis with lesser degrees of diving specialization to the large Hesperornis with extreme morphological specializations. Paleontologists have been studying these birds for over 150 years, dating back to the “Bone Wars” between Marsh and Cope, and as such have a long history of naming, and renaming, taxa. More recent work has focused to varying degrees on the evolutionary relationships, functional morphology, and histology of the group, but there are many opportunities remaining for better understanding these birds. Broad-scale taxonomic evaluations of the more than 20 known species, additional histological work, and the incorporation of digital visualization tools such as computed tomography scans can all add significantly to our understanding of these birds.

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Acosta Hospitaleche, Carolina. "New crania from Seymour Island (Antarctica) shed light on anatomy of Eocene penguins." Polish Polar Research 34, no. 4 (December 1, 2013): 397–412. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/popore-2013-0018.

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Abstract Antarctic skulls attributable to fossil penguins are rare. Three new penguin crania from Antarctica are here described providing an insight into their feeding function. One of the specimens studied is largely a natural endocast, slightly damaged, and lacking preserved osteological details. Two other specimens are the best preserved fossil penguin crania from Antarctica, enabling the study of characters not observed so far. All of them come from the uppermost Submeseta Allomember of the La Meseta Formation (Eocene-?Oligocene), Seymour (Marambio) Island, Antarctic Peninsula. The results of the comparative studies suggest that Paleogene penguins were long−skulled birds, with strong nuchal crests and deep temporal fossae. The configuration of the nuchal crests, the temporal fossae, and the parasphenoidal processes, appears to indicate the presence of powerful muscles. The nasal gland sulcus devoid of a supraorbital edge is typical of piscivorous species.

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Journal articles on the topic 'Fossil birds'

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