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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 ,
Eric Buffetaut Open the ORCID record for Eric Buffetaut [Opens in a new window] ,
Jingmai O’Connor ,
Xingliao Zhang ,
Songhai Jia ,
Jiming Zhang ,
Huali Chang  and
Haiyan Tong Open the ORCID record for Haiyan Tong [Opens in a new window]
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, France Palaeontological 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, Thailand Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100044, China
*
Author for correspondence: Eric Buffetaut, Email: [email protected]
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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.

Keywords

AvesEnantiornithescranial evolutionconvergenceLate CretaceousChina
Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 158 , Issue 11 , November 2021 , pp. 2087 - 2094
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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