Antarctic scientists have discovered what the modern bird can be the oldest ever. The fossil of $ 69 million could finally put a long -standing debate on the origin of modern birds.
The almost complete skull belongs to Vegavis IAAIA kind of savagine that would be the former parent of ducks and modern geese. The species lived at the same time as dinosaurs as Tyrannosaurus rex And may have survived the end-key mass extinction, suggests the new study.
Co-author of the study Julia ClarkePaleontologist at the University of Texas, Austin reported the first V. iaai fossil Found on Vega Island in Antarctica in 1992. The fossil was around 66 to 68 million years old. She proposed that the species is linked to modern birds, in particular the savage. But Not everyone was convinced As scientists lacked a key room of the puzzle – the skull of the creature.
“(The initial fossil) was only a completely different part of the skeleton. And with regard to birds, the skull has a lot of phylogenetic or informative characteristics that tell you what it is”, co-author of the study Patrick O ‘ConnorAn evolving biologist at the University of Ohio, told Live Science.
In relation: How did the birds survived the asteroid killing dinosaurs?
The new V.iaai Fossil, estimated at 68 million at 69 million years, was found during an expedition in 2011, but was only analyzed now. THE study was published Wednesday (February 5) in the journal Nature.
The discovery of the new skull allowed scientists to find out more about this species and how it is part of the family tree of birds. They found that, unlike the pre-modern birds that existed during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (201.3 to 66 million years), V. IAAI Has characteristics similar to birds that exist today – including a typical brain form of modern birds, and a unique bone in the upper spout. The upper beak of most pre-modern birds is made of a single bone, called maxillary, with a little other type of bone, pre-maxilla, at the tip.
“When we looked at the VegavisIt is the pre-maxille all along. The maxilla is tiny, which is exactly what we expect from modern birds “, co-author of the study Christopher TorresA paleontologist at the Pacific University in Stockton, California, told Live Science.
Using a 3D reconstruction, scientists have shown that the bird had a long, improved narrow beak with powerful jaw muscles, much like modern diving birds used to catch fish.
“See how much the skull specialized, for me, the most impactful,” Juan Benito MorenoA paleontologist at the University of Cambridge who was not involved in the study, told Live Science. “It was surprising to see an incredibly niche ecological characteristic so early in evolution.”
The giant asteroid that struck the earth at the end of the Cretaceous (145 million to 66 million years) led all non -avian extinction dinosaurs. Choeuf areas (galliforms) and aquatic birds (Anériforms) were part The first modern birds which existed in the era of dinosaurs.
While the rapid development took place after mass extinction, “studies that examine the genomic comparisons of modern birds predict that the first divergence occurred before this mass extinction,” said Torres. “But their fossil file is extraordinarily rare.”
While the evidence pointing towards V. IAAI Being associated with modern birds is strong, it is still not clear if it is really a parent of modern ducks and geese, he said.
Daniel KsepkaPaleontologist at the Bruce Museum in Connecticut which was not involved in the study, agreed. “”Vegavis Seems to have been a bit of a strange duck, “he told Live Science in an email.” Provided that phylogeny is correct, a bill in the form of a duck must have evolved during the Cretaceous period but was lost by Vegavisor has evolved several times independently. It will be interesting to see if the future fossils confirm one of these scenarios. “”
V. IAAI existed when global temperatures were much higher than today, and when Antarctica had a temperate climate and was covered with vegetation. Its distance from the impact of asteroids may have provided the species with a certain protection against devastation that followed.
For O ‘Connor, this study is the beginning of more discoveries in the rocks of the Cretaceous of Antarctica. “The history of birds is great, but we have other animal groups and, above all, plants, that we can follow this mass extinction event which really allowed us to better understand the response of Ecosystem to a global environmental disruption, “he said.