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Europe's last Mesozoic bird.
Gareth J Dyke1, Rudi W Dortangs, John W M Jagt
1Department of Zoology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Ireland.
Die Naturwissenschaften
|November 19, 2002
Summary
A rare fossil bird, closely related to Ichthyornis, was discovered in Belgium's latest Cretaceous rocks. This finding provides crucial insights into avian evolution around the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event.
Area of Science:
- Paleontology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Vertebrate Paleontology
Background:
- Avian fossils from the European Mesozoic are scarce, limiting understanding of bird evolution across the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) extinction.
- Interpreting avian evolution before and after the K-T event is challenging due to a lack of fossil evidence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To report the discovery of a significant fossil bird specimen from the European Mesozoic.
- To enhance understanding of avian diversity and evolution during the Late Cretaceous and its aftermath.
Main Methods:
- Excavation and analysis of a fossil specimen from the Maastricht Formation in Belgium.
- Phylogenetic analysis to determine the bird's evolutionary relationships.
Main Results:
- A large ornithurine bird, similar to Ichthyornis, was recovered from the uppermost Cretaceous (Maastricht Formation).
- This represents the first bird fossil found in these European strata and the only phylogenetically informative ornithurine from the Mesozoic of Europe.
- Dated at approximately 65.8 million years old (40 m below the K-T boundary), it is the world's youngest known non-neornithine bird.
Conclusions:
- The discovery fills a critical gap in the European Mesozoic avian fossil record.
- This specimen offers valuable data for reconstructing avian evolutionary pathways around the K-T extinction event.
- It highlights the persistence of non-modern bird lineages until the very end of the Cretaceous period.