Paleontologists have described a new species of enantiornithine bird with a toothless beak from the Chinese Jehor bird family. This discovery delayed the earliest appearance of edentulism (lack of teeth) in enantiornithines by about 48 million years.

Impalavis Attenborough They lived in what is now northeastern China about 120 million years ago (early Cretaceous period).

This bird was a member of a group called. enantiornis, or “the opposite bird.” It is named for the feature of its shoulder joint that is “opposite” to that found in modern birds.

Enantiornithines were once the most diverse group of birds, but became extinct 66 million years ago following a meteorite impact that wiped out most dinosaurs.

Paleontologists are still working to understand why enantiornithids went extinct and the birds that gave rise to modern birds survived.

“The enantiornithines are very strange. Most of them had teeth and still had clawed fingers,” said Dr. Alex Clark. student at the University of Chicago and the Field Museum.

“If you were to travel back in time to northeast China 120 million years ago and walk around, you might have seen something that looked like a robin or a cardinal. But it had an open mouth and a bunch of teeth. . When you lift your wings, you’ll notice that you have little fingers.”

“Scientists previously thought that the first record of this group without teeth was from the late Cretaceous period, about 72 million years ago.”

“This little man is Impalavis Attenborough, pushing it back about 48 to 50 million years. Therefore, the lack of teeth, or edentulism, developed much earlier in this group than we thought. “

fossilized skeleton Impalavis Attenborough It was discovered by an amateur fossil collector near the village of Toudaoyingzi in northeastern China and donated to the Tianyu Natural Museum in Shandong Province.

“I think what attracted me to this specimen was the forelimbs, not the lack of teeth,” said Dr. Jingmai O’Connor, associate curator of fossil reptiles at the Field Museum.

“It had a huge bicrest, and a bony protrusion on top of the upper arm bone that had muscles attached to it.”

“I had seen such emblems on birds from the Late Cretaceous period, but never in the Early Cretaceous period like this one. That’s when I first suspected that it might be a new species. It was.”

rare wing bones Impalavis Attenborough Muscle attachments that allowed this bird to flap its wings with extra force may have been possible.

“We’re looking at potentially very strong wingbeats,” Clark said.

“Some of the bone features are similar to those of modern birds such as puffins and murres, which can flap their wings at crazy speeds, or of birds such as quail and pheasants. Although they are small birds, they generate enough force to instantly fly almost vertically when threatened.”

On the other hand, a toothless beak Impalavis Attenborough Modern toothless birds have a wide variety of diets, so researchers aren’t necessarily sure what they ate.

Like its fellow enantiornithines, and unlike modern birds, it does not appear to have a digestive system called a gizzard or gastric mill to help grind up its food.

“Although most enantiornithines appear to have been quite arboreal, differences in forelimb structure suggest that Impalavis Attenborough Although it probably still lived in trees, it probably went down to the ground to feed, and it had a unique diet compared to other enantiornithines. This suggests that there is a possibility, and that it may also explain why they lost their teeth.” said Dr. said Connor.

In their study, the scientists also reexamined previously known bird fossils. Chiapiavisand suggests that it was also an early toothless enantiornithine.

“This discovery… Impalavis Attenborough “We show that the lack of teeth may not have been as unique in early Cretaceous enantiornithines as previously thought,” the researchers said.

The specific name is Impalavis Attenborough Attenborough’s strange bird, after the naturalist Sir David Attenborough.

Sir David Attenborough said: “It is a great honor to have your name attached to a fossil, especially one as spectacular and important as this one.”

“It seems the history of birds is more complicated than we thought.”

“All birds are dinosaurs, but not all dinosaurs fall into the special type of dinosaur known as birds. All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. Is the same.”

“The newly explained Impalavis Attenborough Since it’s a bird, it’s also a dinosaur.”

a paper description Impalavis Attenborough Published in an online journal Cretaceous research.

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Wang Xiaoli other. 2024. The first edentulous enantiornithines from the Early Cretaceous Jehol ornithians (Birds: Ornithorax). Cretaceous research 159: 105867; doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105867