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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
- 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, FrancePalaeontological 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, ThailandInstitute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100044, China
- *
- Author for correspondence: Eric Buffetaut, Email:eric.buffetaut@sfr.fr
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.
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- © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press
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Xu et al. supplementary material
Xu et al. supplementary material
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