Brazil fossil birds + Macranhinga tibiotarsus + Shangyang iridescent feather crest + AVOTREX extinct birds + more,
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Ben Creisler
Oct 26, 2024, 3:46:01 PMOct 26
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Ben Creisler
Human activities have been reshaping the natural world for tens of thousands of years, leading to the extinction of hundreds of bird species. Past research has provided evidence of extinction selectivity towards certain groups of species, but trait information is lacking for the majority of clades, especially for prehistoric extinctions identified only through subfossil remains. This incomplete knowledge potentially obscures the structure of natural communities, undermining our ability to infer changes in biodiversity across space and time, including trends in functional and phylogenetic diversity. Biases in currently available trait data also limit our ability to identify drivers and processes of extinction. Here we present AVOTREX, an open-access database of species traits for all birds known to have gone extinct in the last 130,000 years. This database provides detailed morphological information for 610 extinct species, along with a pipeline to build phylogenetic trees that include these extinct species.
Main Types of Variables Contained
For each extinct bird species, we provide information on the taxonomy, geographic location, and period of extinction. We also present data on island endemicity, flight ability, and body mass, as well as standard measurements of external (matching the AVONET database of extant birds) and skeletal morphology from museum specimens where available. To ensure comprehensive morphological data coverage, we estimate all missing morphological measurements using a data imputation technique based on machine learning. Finally, we provide an R package to graft all extinct species onto a global phylogeny of extant species (BirdTree).
Spatial Location and Grain
Global.
Time Period and Grain
All known globally extinct bird species from 130,000 years ago up until 2024.
Major Taxa and Level of Measurement
Birds (Class Aves), species level.
Software Format
Spreadsheets (.csv) stored in Dryad.
===
Pterodroma zinorum sp. nov.
Juan C Rando, Harald Pieper, Fernando Pereira, Enric Torres-Roig & Josep Antoni Alcover (2024)
Petrel extinction in Macaronesia (North-East Atlantic Ocean): the case of the genus Pterodroma (Aves: Procellariiformes: Procellariidae)
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 202(2): zlae123,
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae123
https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/202/2/zlae123/7841832
The Late Quaternary fossil record indicates that formerly in the North Atlantic volcanic Macaronesian archipelagos (Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary Islands, and Cape Verde) there was a higher avian diversity, including numerous now extinct species. Currently, only three gadfly petrels (genus Pterodroma) remain in two archipelagos: the Fea’s petrel, Pt. feae, in Cape Verde (islands of Santiago, Fogo, Santo Antão, and São Nicolau); the Zino’s petrel of Madeira, Pt. madeira, on the island of Madeira; and the Desertas petrel, Pt. deserta, on the islet of Bugio (Desertas Islands, Madeira Archipelago). Herein we describe the former distribution of the genus in Macaronesia based on the palaeontological record. However, the original specific diversity cannot be accurately established through the biometry of their fossil bones but the fossil record of Pterodroma in Macaronesia indicates: (i) its former presence in all Macaronesian archipelagos; (ii) the extinction of at least 16 island populations (73% of its original distribution on these islands); and (iii) the extinction of, at least, one species from Azores, here named Pterodroma zinorum sp. nov.. Radiocarbon dates indicate than this species was still alive at sometime among 1104 and 1672 CE, documenting its extinction in the last millennium.
====
Chunpeng Xu, Jun Chen, Florian T. Muijres, Yilun Yu, Edmund A. Jarzembowski, Haichun Zhang, and Bo Wang (2024)
Enhanced flight performance and adaptive evolution of Mesozoic giant cicadas
Science Advances 10(43): eadr2201
DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adr2201
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adr2201
Insects have evolved diverse ecological flight behaviors and adaptations that played a key role in their large-scale evolutionary patterns. However, the evolution of their flight performance is poorly understood because reconstructing flight abilities of extinct insects is highly challenging. Here, we propose an integrated approach to reveal the evolution of flight performance of Palaeontinidae (giant cicadas), a Mesozoic arboreal insect clade with large bodies and wings. Our analyses unveil a faunal turnover from early to late Palaeontinidae during the latest Jurassic–earliest Cretaceous, accompanied by a morphological adaptive shift and remarkable improvement in flight abilities including increased flight speed and enhanced maneuverability. The adaptive aerodynamic evolution of Palaeontinidae may have been stimulated by the rise of early birds, supporting the hypothesis of an aerial evolutionary arms race (Air Race) between Palaeontinidae and birds. Our results provide a potential example of predator-induced morphological and behavioral macroevolution and contribute to our understanding of how powered flight has shaped animal evolution.
Some recent avian papers:
Free pdf:
Rafael S. Nascimento & Luís Fábio (2024)
Fossil and subfossil birds of Brazil
Zoologia (Curitiba) 41: e23079
doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/S1984-4689.v41.e23079
https://www.scielo.br/j/zool/a/DRRKXQtCnJtwQDdfphDzj4H/?lang=en
Free pdf:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385098091_Fossil_and_subfossil_birds_of_Brazil
The study of fossil and subfossil birds in Brazil is still in its early stages despite its relatively abundant material. The remains are represented by bones, feathers, mummified specimens, eggs, coprolites, pellets, and tracks found in all Regions of the country starting in the 1830s. They are known from the Early Cretaceous to the latest Holocene, albeit several temporal gaps exist, and the most expressive diversity and quantity are concentrated in a few but important sites. Our survey and review of the literature and some previously unpublished specimens resulted in a list of 670 records demonstrating that the country’s known past avifaunas are essentially modern and rely mostly on provisional determination methods. Despite this, 15 extinct genera and 20 extinct species were newly described, demonstrating this field’s potential. The proper study of numerous long-stored materials from both paleontological and archeological contexts and eventual new remains can contribute significantly to our understanding of avian evolution and their taxonomic diversity throughout time, besides furnishing paleobiogeographic and paleoenvironmental information.
===
Zhiheng LI, Jinsheng Hu, Thomas Stidham, Mao Ye, Min Wang, Yanhong Pan, Tao Zhao, Jingshu Li, Zhonghe Zhou & Julia Clarke (2024)
Iridescent structural coloration in a crested Cretaceous enantiornithine bird from Jehol Biota
bioRxiv 2024.10.21.619362 (preprint)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.10.21.619362
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.21.619362v1
A combination of sectioning and microscopy techniques, along with the application of finite-difference-time-domain modeling on a fossil feather, novelly results in the estimation of the range of iridescent colors from fossilized melanosomes preserved in the elongate head crest feathers of a new Cretaceous enantiornithine bird. The densely packed rod-like melanosomes yield are estimated to have yielded from red to deep blue iridescent coloration of the head feathers. The shape and density of these melanosome may have also further increased the feather’s structural strength. This occurrence on a likely male individual is highly suggestive of both a signaling function of the iridescent crest, and a potential behavioral role in adjusting the angle of light incidence to control the display of this iridescent structural coloration.
====
=====
Free pdf:
Rafael S. Nascimento & Luís Fábio (2024)
Fossil and subfossil birds of Brazil
Zoologia (Curitiba) 41: e23079
doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/S1984-4689.v41.e23079
https://www.scielo.br/j/zool/a/DRRKXQtCnJtwQDdfphDzj4H/?lang=en
Free pdf:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385098091_Fossil_and_subfossil_birds_of_Brazil
The study of fossil and subfossil birds in Brazil is still in its early stages despite its relatively abundant material. The remains are represented by bones, feathers, mummified specimens, eggs, coprolites, pellets, and tracks found in all Regions of the country starting in the 1830s. They are known from the Early Cretaceous to the latest Holocene, albeit several temporal gaps exist, and the most expressive diversity and quantity are concentrated in a few but important sites. Our survey and review of the literature and some previously unpublished specimens resulted in a list of 670 records demonstrating that the country’s known past avifaunas are essentially modern and rely mostly on provisional determination methods. Despite this, 15 extinct genera and 20 extinct species were newly described, demonstrating this field’s potential. The proper study of numerous long-stored materials from both paleontological and archeological contexts and eventual new remains can contribute significantly to our understanding of avian evolution and their taxonomic diversity throughout time, besides furnishing paleobiogeographic and paleoenvironmental information.
===
Edson Guilherme, Ighor D. Mendes, Carlos D’Apolito, Lucy G. Souza, Francisco R. Negri, Kathellen G. Magalhães, Jonas P. Souza-Filho
The tibiotarsus of a giant darter from the upper Miocene of Amazonia and weight estimates for fossil darters
Palaeoworld (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palwor.2024.10.003
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871174X24001355
Fossil darters are known from every continent since the Oligocene. However, it was in the Miocene of South America that this group reached its maximum diversity. Macranhinga ranzii is the largest darter from the Solimões Formation, described based on the left and right femora as well as the distal end of a tarsometarsus and four vertebrae. Here, we describe for the first time the left tibiotarsus of this species by comparing it with the tibiotarsus of the extant Anhinga anhinga and other fossil anhingids. We also calculated and compared the body mass of Ma. ranzii to that of all known tibiotarsi fossil anhingids using two calculation methods. The tibiotarsus described here is morphologically similar to that of other anhingids, however, in addition to its large size and robustness, it presents diagnostic characters (e.g., torus linearis) that allow us to attribute it to the genus Macranhinga and differentiate it from other fossil species of this genus whose tibiotarsi are known. The estimated body mass of Ma. ranzii ranges from 14.39 to 19.1 kg, ranking it the highest estimated body mass among the darters where the tibiotarsi were found.
The tibiotarsus of a giant darter from the upper Miocene of Amazonia and weight estimates for fossil darters
Palaeoworld (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palwor.2024.10.003
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871174X24001355
Fossil darters are known from every continent since the Oligocene. However, it was in the Miocene of South America that this group reached its maximum diversity. Macranhinga ranzii is the largest darter from the Solimões Formation, described based on the left and right femora as well as the distal end of a tarsometarsus and four vertebrae. Here, we describe for the first time the left tibiotarsus of this species by comparing it with the tibiotarsus of the extant Anhinga anhinga and other fossil anhingids. We also calculated and compared the body mass of Ma. ranzii to that of all known tibiotarsi fossil anhingids using two calculation methods. The tibiotarsus described here is morphologically similar to that of other anhingids, however, in addition to its large size and robustness, it presents diagnostic characters (e.g., torus linearis) that allow us to attribute it to the genus Macranhinga and differentiate it from other fossil species of this genus whose tibiotarsi are known. The estimated body mass of Ma. ranzii ranges from 14.39 to 19.1 kg, ranking it the highest estimated body mass among the darters where the tibiotarsi were found.
===
Free pdf:
Zhiheng LI, Jinsheng Hu, Thomas Stidham, Mao Ye, Min Wang, Yanhong Pan, Tao Zhao, Jingshu Li, Zhonghe Zhou & Julia Clarke (2024)
Iridescent structural coloration in a crested Cretaceous enantiornithine bird from Jehol Biota
bioRxiv 2024.10.21.619362 (preprint)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.10.21.619362
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.21.619362v1
A combination of sectioning and microscopy techniques, along with the application of finite-difference-time-domain modeling on a fossil feather, novelly results in the estimation of the range of iridescent colors from fossilized melanosomes preserved in the elongate head crest feathers of a new Cretaceous enantiornithine bird. The densely packed rod-like melanosomes yield are estimated to have yielded from red to deep blue iridescent coloration of the head feathers. The shape and density of these melanosome may have also further increased the feather’s structural strength. This occurrence on a likely male individual is highly suggestive of both a signaling function of the iridescent crest, and a potential behavioral role in adjusting the angle of light incidence to control the display of this iridescent structural coloration.
====
====
Ferran Sayol, Joseph P. Wayman, Paul Dufour, Thomas E. Martin, Julian P. Hume, Maria Wagner Jørgensen, Natàlia Martínez-Rubio, Ariadna Sanglas, Filipa C. Soares, Rob Cooke, Chase D. Mendenhall, Jay R. Margolis, Juan Carlos Illera, Rhys Lemoine, Eva Benavides, Oriol Lapiedra, Kostas A. Triantis, Alex L. Pigot, Joseph A. Tobias, Søren Faurby, Thomas J. Matthews (2024)
AVOTREX: A Global Dataset of Extinct Birds and Their Traits
Global Ecology and Biogeography e13927
doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13927
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/geb.13927
Motivation
AVOTREX: A Global Dataset of Extinct Birds and Their Traits
Global Ecology and Biogeography e13927
doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13927
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/geb.13927
Motivation
Human activities have been reshaping the natural world for tens of thousands of years, leading to the extinction of hundreds of bird species. Past research has provided evidence of extinction selectivity towards certain groups of species, but trait information is lacking for the majority of clades, especially for prehistoric extinctions identified only through subfossil remains. This incomplete knowledge potentially obscures the structure of natural communities, undermining our ability to infer changes in biodiversity across space and time, including trends in functional and phylogenetic diversity. Biases in currently available trait data also limit our ability to identify drivers and processes of extinction. Here we present AVOTREX, an open-access database of species traits for all birds known to have gone extinct in the last 130,000 years. This database provides detailed morphological information for 610 extinct species, along with a pipeline to build phylogenetic trees that include these extinct species.
Main Types of Variables Contained
For each extinct bird species, we provide information on the taxonomy, geographic location, and period of extinction. We also present data on island endemicity, flight ability, and body mass, as well as standard measurements of external (matching the AVONET database of extant birds) and skeletal morphology from museum specimens where available. To ensure comprehensive morphological data coverage, we estimate all missing morphological measurements using a data imputation technique based on machine learning. Finally, we provide an R package to graft all extinct species onto a global phylogeny of extant species (BirdTree).
Spatial Location and Grain
Global.
Time Period and Grain
All known globally extinct bird species from 130,000 years ago up until 2024.
Major Taxa and Level of Measurement
Birds (Class Aves), species level.
Software Format
Spreadsheets (.csv) stored in Dryad.
===
Free pdf:
Pterodroma zinorum sp. nov.
Juan C Rando, Harald Pieper, Fernando Pereira, Enric Torres-Roig & Josep Antoni Alcover (2024)
Petrel extinction in Macaronesia (North-East Atlantic Ocean): the case of the genus Pterodroma (Aves: Procellariiformes: Procellariidae)
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 202(2): zlae123,
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae123
https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/202/2/zlae123/7841832
The Late Quaternary fossil record indicates that formerly in the North Atlantic volcanic Macaronesian archipelagos (Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary Islands, and Cape Verde) there was a higher avian diversity, including numerous now extinct species. Currently, only three gadfly petrels (genus Pterodroma) remain in two archipelagos: the Fea’s petrel, Pt. feae, in Cape Verde (islands of Santiago, Fogo, Santo Antão, and São Nicolau); the Zino’s petrel of Madeira, Pt. madeira, on the island of Madeira; and the Desertas petrel, Pt. deserta, on the islet of Bugio (Desertas Islands, Madeira Archipelago). Herein we describe the former distribution of the genus in Macaronesia based on the palaeontological record. However, the original specific diversity cannot be accurately established through the biometry of their fossil bones but the fossil record of Pterodroma in Macaronesia indicates: (i) its former presence in all Macaronesian archipelagos; (ii) the extinction of at least 16 island populations (73% of its original distribution on these islands); and (iii) the extinction of, at least, one species from Azores, here named Pterodroma zinorum sp. nov.. Radiocarbon dates indicate than this species was still alive at sometime among 1104 and 1672 CE, documenting its extinction in the last millennium.
====
====
Also:
Free pdf:
Chunpeng Xu, Jun Chen, Florian T. Muijres, Yilun Yu, Edmund A. Jarzembowski, Haichun Zhang, and Bo Wang (2024)
Enhanced flight performance and adaptive evolution of Mesozoic giant cicadas
Science Advances 10(43): eadr2201
DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adr2201
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adr2201
Insects have evolved diverse ecological flight behaviors and adaptations that played a key role in their large-scale evolutionary patterns. However, the evolution of their flight performance is poorly understood because reconstructing flight abilities of extinct insects is highly challenging. Here, we propose an integrated approach to reveal the evolution of flight performance of Palaeontinidae (giant cicadas), a Mesozoic arboreal insect clade with large bodies and wings. Our analyses unveil a faunal turnover from early to late Palaeontinidae during the latest Jurassic–earliest Cretaceous, accompanied by a morphological adaptive shift and remarkable improvement in flight abilities including increased flight speed and enhanced maneuverability. The adaptive aerodynamic evolution of Palaeontinidae may have been stimulated by the rise of early birds, supporting the hypothesis of an aerial evolutionary arms race (Air Race) between Palaeontinidae and birds. Our results provide a potential example of predator-induced morphological and behavioral macroevolution and contribute to our understanding of how powered flight has shaped animal evolution.
***
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