Vegaviidae, a new clade of southern diving birds that survived the K/T boundary
- PMID: 28988276
- DOI: 10.1007/s00114-017-1508-y
Vegaviidae, a new clade of southern diving birds that survived the K/T boundary
Abstract
The fossil record of Late Cretaceous-Paleogene modern birds in the Southern Hemisphere includes the Maastrichtian Neogaeornis wetzeli from Chile, Polarornis gregorii and Vegavis iaai from Antarctica, and Australornis lovei from the Paleogene of New Zealand. The recent finding of a new and nearly complete Vegavis skeleton constitutes the most informative source for anatomical comparisons among Australornis, Polarornis, and Vegavis. The present contribution includes, for the first time, Vegavis, Polarornis, and Australornis in a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis. This analysis resulted in the recognition of these taxa as a clade of basal Anseriformes that we call Vegaviidae. Vegaviids share a combination of characters related to diving adaptations, including compact and thickened cortex of hindlimb bones, femur with anteroposteriorly compressed and bowed shaft, deep and wide popliteal fossa delimited by a medial ridge, tibiotarsus showing notably proximally expanded cnemial crests, expanded fibular crest, anteroposterior compression of the tibial shaft, and a tarsometatarsus with a strong transverse compression of the shaft. Isolated bones coming from the Cretaceous and Paleogene of South America, Antarctica, and New Zealand are also referred to here to Vegaviidae and support the view that these basal anseriforms were abundant and diverse at high southern latitudes. Moreover, vegaviids represent the first avian lineage to have definitely crossed the K-Pg boundary, supporting the idea that some avian clades were not affected by the end Mesozoic mass extinction event, countering previous interpretations. Recognition of Vegaviidae indicates that modern birds were diversified in southern continents by the Cretaceous and reinforces the hypothesis indicating the important role of Gondwana for the evolutionary history of Anseriformes and Neornithes as a whole.
Keywords: Gondwana; Neornithes; Vegaviidae; Vegavis.
Similar articles
-
The Cretaceous Neornithine record and new Vegaviidae specimens from the López de Bertodano Formation (Upper Maastrichthian) of Vega Island, Antarctic Peninsula.An Acad Bras Cienc. 2023 Dec 8;95(suppl 3):e20230802. doi: 10.1590/0001-3765202320230802. eCollection 2023. An Acad Bras Cienc. 2023. PMID: 38088642
-
Definitive fossil evidence for the extant avian radiation in the Cretaceous.Nature. 2005 Jan 20;433(7023):305-8. doi: 10.1038/nature03150. Nature. 2005. PMID: 15662422
-
An avian femur from the Late Cretaceous of Vega Island, Antarctic Peninsula: removing the record of cursorial landbirds from the Mesozoic of Antarctica.PeerJ. 2019 Jul 10;7:e7231. doi: 10.7717/peerj.7231. eCollection 2019. PeerJ. 2019. PMID: 31333904 Free PMC article.
-
The Paleogene fossil record of birds in Europe.Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2005 Nov;80(4):515-42. doi: 10.1017/S1464793105006779. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2005. PMID: 16221327 Review.
-
Bird evolution in the Eocene: climate change in Europe and a Danish fossil fauna.Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2006 Nov;81(4):483-99. doi: 10.1017/S146479310600707X. Epub 2006 Aug 8. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2006. PMID: 16893476 Review.
Cited by
-
Tip dating and Bayes factors provide insight into the divergences of crown bird clades across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.Proc Biol Sci. 2024 Feb 14;291(2016):20232618. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2618. Epub 2024 Feb 14. Proc Biol Sci. 2024. PMID: 38351798 Free PMC article.
-
First monotreme from the Late Cretaceous of South America.Commun Biol. 2023 Feb 16;6(1):146. doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-04498-7. Commun Biol. 2023. PMID: 36797304 Free PMC article.
-
Bird neurocranial and body mass evolution across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction: The avian brain shape left other dinosaurs behind.Sci Adv. 2021 Jul 30;7(31):eabg7099. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abg7099. Print 2021 Jul. Sci Adv. 2021. PMID: 34330706 Free PMC article.
-
The Making of Calibration Sausage Exemplified by Recalibrating the Transcriptomic Timetree of Jawed Vertebrates.Front Genet. 2021 May 12;12:521693. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.521693. eCollection 2021. Front Genet. 2021. PMID: 34054911 Free PMC article.
-
Late Cretaceous neornithine from Europe illuminates the origins of crown birds.Nature. 2020 Mar;579(7799):397-401. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2096-0. Epub 2020 Mar 18. Nature. 2020. PMID: 32188952
References
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
Miscellaneous