Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T14:04:33.288Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A new, remarkably preserved, enantiornithine bird from the Upper Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Henan (central China) and convergent evolution between enantiornithines and modern birds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2021

Li Xu ,
Eric Buffetaut Open the ORCID record for Eric Buffetaut [Opens in a new window] ,
Jingmai O’Connor ,
Xingliao Zhang ,
Songhai Jia ,
Jiming Zhang ,
Huali Chang  and
Haiyan Tong Open the ORCID record for Haiyan Tong [Opens in a new window]
Li Xu
Affiliation:
Henan Natural History Museum, Zhengzhou, Henan450016, China
Eric Buffetaut*
Affiliation:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (UMR 8538), Laboratoire de Géologie, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231Paris Cedex 05, France Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Mahasarakham University, Kantarawichai, Maha Sarakham44150, Thailand
Jingmai O’Connor
Affiliation:
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL60605, USA
Xingliao Zhang
Affiliation:
Henan Natural History Museum, Zhengzhou, Henan450016, China
Songhai Jia
Affiliation:
Henan Natural History Museum, Zhengzhou, Henan450016, China
Jiming Zhang
Affiliation:
Henan Natural History Museum, Zhengzhou, Henan450016, China
Huali Chang
Affiliation:
Henan Natural History Museum, Zhengzhou, Henan450016, China
Haiyan Tong
Affiliation:
Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Mahasarakham University, Kantarawichai, Maha Sarakham44150, Thailand Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100044, China
*
Author for correspondence: Eric Buffetaut, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A new enantiornithine bird is described on the basis of a well preserved partial skeleton from the Upper Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Henan Province (central China). It provides new evidence about the osteology of Late Cretaceous enantiornithines, which are mainly known from isolated bones; in contrast, Early Cretaceous forms are often represented by complete skeletons. While the postcranial skeleton shows the usual distinctive characters of enantiornithines, the skull displays several features, including confluence of the antorbital fenestra and the orbit and loss of the postorbital, evolved convergently with modern birds. Although some enantiornithines retained primitive cranial morphologies into the latest Cretaceous Period, at least one lineage evolved cranial modifications that parallel those in modern birds.

Keywords

AvesEnantiornithescranial evolutionconvergenceLate CretaceousChina
Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 158 , Issue 11 , November 2021 , pp. 2087 - 2094
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atterholt, JA, Hutchison, JH and O’Connor, J (2018) The most complete enantiornithine from North America and a phylogenetic analysis of the Avisauridae. Peer J 6, 1–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources of Henan Province (1989) Regional Geology of Henan Province. Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 921 p.Google Scholar
Chiappe, LM (1993) Enantiornithine (Aves) tarsometatarsi from the Cretaceous Lecho Formation of northwestern Argentina. American Museum Novitates 3083, 1–27.Google Scholar
Chiappe, LM (1995) The first 85 million years of avian evolution. Nature 378, 349–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiappe, LM (1996) Late Cretaceous birds of southern South America: anatomy and systematics of Enantiornithes and Patagopteryx deferrariisi . Münchner Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen (A) 30, 203–44.Google Scholar
Chiappe, LM and Calvo, JO (1994) Neuquenornis volans, a new Late Cretaceous bird (Enantiornithes: Avisauridae) from Patagonia, Argentina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 14, 230–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiappe, LM, Norell, M and Clark, J (2001) A new skull of Gobipteryx minuta (Aves: Enantiornithes) from the Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert. American Museum Novitates 3346, 1–15.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiappe, LM, Suzuki, S, Dyke, GJ, Watabe, M, Tsogtbaatar, K and Barsbold, R (2006) A new enantiornithine bird from the Late Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 5, 193–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiappe, LM and Walker, CA (2002) Skeletal morphology and systematics of the Cretaceous Euenantiornithes (Ornithothoraces: Enantiornithes). In: Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs (eds Chiappe, LM and Witmer, LM), pp. 240–267. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Elzanowski, A (1976) Paleognathous bird from the Cretaceous of central Asia. Nature 264, 51–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Field, DJ, Benito, J, Chen, A, Jagt, JWM and Ksepka, DT (2020) Late Cretaceous neornithine from Europe illuminates the origins of crown birds. Nature 579, 397–401.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Field, DJ, Hanson, M, Burnham, DA, Wilson, LE, Super, K, Ehret, D, Ebersole, JA and Bhullar, BS (2018) Complete Ichthyornis skull illuminates mosaic assembly of the avian head. Nature 557, 96–100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hu, H, O’Connor, JK, McDonald, PG and Wroe, S (2020a) Cranial osteology of the Early Cretaceous Sapeornis chaoyangensis (Aves: Pygostylia). Cretaceous Research 113, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, H, O’Connor, JK, Wang, M, Wroe, S and McDonald, PG (2020b) New anatomical information of bohaiornithid Longusunguis confirms plesiomorphic diapsid skull retained in Enantiornithes. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 18, 1481–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurochkin, EN (1996) A new enantiornithid of the Mongolian Late Cretaceous and a general appraisal of the infraclass Enantiornithes (Aves). Moscow: Palaeontological Institute (special issue), 60 p.Google Scholar
Linnaeus, C (1758) Systema naturae. Stockholm: Laurentius Salvius, 824 p.Google Scholar
Nava, WR, Alvarenga, H, Chiappe, LM and Martinelli, AG (2015) Three-dimensionally preserved cranial remains of enantiornithine birds from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil. In: V Congreso Latinoamericano de Paleontología de Vertebrados, Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. Abstracts, p. 73.Google Scholar
O’Connor, J and Chiappe, LM (2011) A revision of enantiornithine (Aves: Ornithothoraces) skull morphology. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 9, 135–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Connor, JK (2019) The trophic habits of early birds. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 513, 178–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Connor, JK, Wang, M and Hu, H (2016) A new ornithuromorph (Aves) with an elongate rostrum from the Jehol Biota and the early evolution of rostralization in birds. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 2016, 1–10.Google Scholar
O’Connor, PM, Turner, AH, Groenke, JR, Felice, RN, Rogers, RP, Krause, DW and Rahantarisoa, LJ (2020) Late Cretaceous bird from Madagascar reveals unique development of beaks. Nature 588, 272–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Owen, R (1841) On the anatomy of the southern Apteryx (Apteryx australis, Shaw). Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 2, 257–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Panteleev, AV (2018) Morphology of the coracoid of Late Cretaceous enantiornithines (Aves: Enantiornithes) from Dzharakuduk (Uzbekistan). Paleontological Journal 52, 201–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rauhut, OWM, Foth, C and Tischlinger, H (2018) The oldest Archaeopteryx (Theropoda: Avialiae): a new specimen from the Kimmeridgian/Tithonian boundary of Schamhaupten, Bavaria. PeerJ 6, e4191.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanz, JL, Chiappe, LM, Pérez-Moreno, B, Moratalla, JJ, Hernández-Carrasquilla, F, Buscalioni, AD, Ortega, F, Poyato-Ariza, F, Rasskin-Gutman, D and Martinez-Delclòs, X (1997) A nestling bird from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain: implications for avian skull and neck evolution. Science 276, 1543–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sereno, P (2000) Iberomesornis romerali (Aves, Ornithothoraces) reevaluated as an Early Cretaceous enantiornithine. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen 215, 365–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, CA (1981) New subclass of birds from the Cretaceous of South America. Nature 292, 51–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, CA, Buffetaut, E and Dyke, GJ (2007) Large euenantiornithine birds from the Cretaceous of southern France, North America and Argentina. Geological Magazine 144, 977–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, M, Hu, H and Li, Z (2016) A new small enantiornithine bird from the Jehol Biota, with implications for early evolution of avian skull morphology. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 14, 481–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, M, O’Connor, J and Zhou, Z (2019) A taxonomical revision of the Confuciusornithiformes (Aves: Pygostylia). Vertebrata Palasiatica 57, 1–37.Google Scholar
Wang, M, Zhou, Z and Xu, G (2014) The first enantiornithine bird from the Upper Cretaceous of China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34, 135–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, X, O’Connor, JK, Zhao, B, Chiappe, LM, Gao, C and Cheng, X (2010) A new species of Enantiornithes (Aves: Ornithothoraces) based on a well-preserved specimen from the Qiaotou Formation of northern Hebei, China. Acta Geologica Sinica 84, 247–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, L, Kobayashi, Y, Lü, J, Lee, YN, Liu, Y, Tanaka, K, Zhang, X, Jia, S and Zhang, J (2011) A new ornithomimid dinosaur with North American affinities from the Late Cretaceous Qiupa Formation in Henan Province of China. Cretaceous Research 32, 213–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, S, He, H, Jin, F, Zhang, F, Wu, Y, Yu, Z, Li, Q, Wang, M, O’Connor, JK, Deng, C, Zhu, R and Zhou, Z (2020) The appearance and duration of the Jehol Biota: constraint from SIMS U-Pb zircon dating for the Huajiying Formation in northern China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 117, 14299–305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zelenkov, NV (2017) Early Cretaceous enantiornithine birds (Aves, Ornithothoraces) and establishment of the Ornithuromorpha morphological type. Paleontological Journal 51, 628–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, S (2005) The Dinosaur Egg Fossils in Nanyang, China. Wuhan: China University of Geosciences Press, 100 p.Google Scholar
Zhou, Z, Clarke, J and Zhang, F (2008) Insight into diversity, body size and morphological evolution from the largest Early Cretaceous enantiornithine bird. Journal of Anatomy 212, 565–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhou, Z and Zhang, F (2006) Mesozoic birds of China - a synoptic review. Vertebrata Palasiatica 44, 74–98.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Xu et al. supplementary material

Xu et al. supplementary material

Download Xu et al. supplementary material(File)
File 103.4 KB