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Type: Article
Published: 2020-04-30
Page range: 212–219
Abstract views: 535
PDF downloaded: 2

A newly discovered enantiornithine foot preserved in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber

State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China School of the Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
School of the Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China Royal Saskatchewan Museum, Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 4W7, Canada Biology Department, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan S4S 0A2, Canada
Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing 100044, China Center of Excellence, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Royal Saskatchewan Museum, Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 4W7, Canada Biology Department, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan S4S 0A2, Canada Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
General Enantiornithes osteology scutellae scale filament Myanmar Albian–Cenomanian

Abstract

Recent discoveries of enantiornithine remains in Burmese amber have provided a wealth of paleobiological data on this extinct clade of Mesozoic birds. Amber, as a unique medium of fossilization, preserves in three dimensions structures with details unmatched elsewhere in the fossil record. This provides the opportunity to combine osteological information with more detailed information on integumentary structures, including soft tissues and the plumage of the specimens. Herein, we describe an isolated bird foot, DIP-V-19354, consisting of complete metatarsals and digits, including the claws. Placement among the Enantiornithes is supported by the presence of a metatarsal IV with a trochlea formed by a single condyle and the large size and curvature of the claws. The bones of the right foot are preserved fully encased in soft tissue. Scutellae scale filaments (SSFs) are present along the metatarsals and digits, and are similar to those previously described in other enantiornithines. The distribution and relative size of the SSFs on the longest digit support the hypothesis of a mechanosensory tactile role of these structures: this may implicate the digit in the feeding strategy of the animal, as has been suggested for Elektorornis. Unlike many of the previously described enantiornithine remains from this deposit, the taphonomic history of DIP-V-19354 suggests that the foot was trapped in resin flows above the forest floor, likely on the trunk of a tree, after the bird had died.

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