A new basal ornithuromorph bird (Aves: Ornithothoraces) from the Early Cretaceous of China with implication for morphology of early Ornithuromorpha

Wang, Min; Zhou, Zhonghe; Zhou, Shuang

doi:10.1111/zoj.12302

Cited by 24 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…; Wang & Zhou ; Wang et al . ) and the gastroliths in Yanornis IVPP V13358 have been reidentified as stones accidentally ingested during feeding impacted in the intestines and not true gizzard stones (Zheng et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The evolution of the modern avian digestive system: insights from paravian fossils from the Yanliao and Jehol biotas

O’Connor

Zhou

2019

Palaeontology

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The avian digestive system, like other aspects of avian biology, is highly modified relative to other reptiles. Together these modifications have imparted the great success of Neornithes, the most diverse clade of amniotes alive today. It is important to understand when and how aspects of the modern avian digestive system evolved among neornithine ancestors in order to elucidate the evolutionary success of this important clade and to understand the biology of stem birds and their closest dinosaurian relatives: Mesozoic Paraves. Although direct preservation of the soft tissue of the digestive system has not yet been reported, ingested remains and their anatomical location preserved in articulated fossils hint at the structure of the digestive system and its abilities. Almost all data concerning direct evidence of diet in Paraves comes from either the Upper Jurassic Yanliao Biota or the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Biota, both of which are known from deposits in north-eastern China. Here, the sum of the data gleaned from the thousands of exceptionally well-preserved fossils of paravians is interpreted with regards to the structure and evolution of the highly modified avian digestive system and feeding apparatus. This information suggests intrinsic differences between closely related stem lineages implying either strong homoplasy or that diet in each lineage of non-ornithuromorph birds was highly specialized. Regardless, modern digestive capabilities appear to be limited to the Ornithuromorpha, although the complete set of derived feeding related characters is restricted to the Neornithes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…), Bellulornis (Wang et al . ) (Fig. B), and Dingavis (and possible synonym Changzuiornis ) (Huang et al .…”

Section: Preserved Tracesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of the modern avian digestive system: insights from paravian fossils from the Yanliao and Jehol biotas

O’Connor

Zhou

2019

Palaeontology

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“…Sapeornithiformes and Confuciusornithiformes [22,43], but how this difference arose is unknown. Several newly reported ornithuromorphs from the Jiufotang Formation, including Archaeorhynchus, Schizooura, and Bellulornis, have begun to close the morphological gap between Enantiornithes and Ornithuromorpha [44][45][46], suggesting rapid rates of speciation and morphological diversification during the course of their early history. This is supported by the presence of significantly high rates found at the base of Ornithothoraces (figures 2 and 3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rates of morphological evolution are heterogeneous in Early Cretaceous birds

Wang

Lloyd

2016

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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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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“…We therefore propose to substitute the name Bellulornis nom. nov. for the new ornithuromorph bird, the type species of which is Bellulornis rectusunguis (Wang et al ., ).…”

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confidence: 97%

“…Mr Nick Gardner (Potomac State College of West Virginia University) has informed us that the name Bellulia which we used to describe a new genus of basal ornithuromorph bird from the Early Cretaceous (Wang, Zhou & Zhou, ) is preoccupied by a species of moth. This was described by Fibiger () as a genus of moths of the Erebidae family, and the type species is Bellulia parabella .…”

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confidence: 99%