The oldest record of ornithuromorpha from the early cretaceous of China

Min Wang (), Xiaoting Zheng, Jingmai K. O’Connor, Graeme T. Lloyd, Xiaoli Wang, Yan Wang, Xiaomei Zhang and Zhonghe Zhou ()
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Min Wang: Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiaoting Zheng: Institue of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University
Jingmai K. O’Connor: Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Graeme T. Lloyd: Faculty of Science, Macquarie University
Xiaoli Wang: Institue of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University
Yan Wang: Institue of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University
Xiaomei Zhang: Institue of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University
Zhonghe Zhou: Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Ornithuromorpha is the most inclusive clade containing extant birds but not the Mesozoic Enantiornithes. The early evolutionary history of this avian clade has been advanced with recent discoveries from Cretaceous deposits, indicating that Ornithuromorpha and Enantiornithes are the two major avian groups in Mesozoic. Here we report on a new ornithuromorph bird, Archaeornithura meemannae gen. et sp. nov., from the second oldest avian-bearing deposits (130.7 Ma) in the world. The new taxon is referable to the Hongshanornithidae and constitutes the oldest record of the Ornithuromorpha. However, A. meemannae shows few primitive features relative to younger hongshanornithids and is deeply nested within the Hongshanornithidae, suggesting that this clade is already well established. The new discovery extends the record of Ornithuromorpha by five to six million years, which in turn pushes back the divergence times of early avian lingeages into the Early Cretaceous.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7987

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