The first specimen of Archaeopteryx from the Upper Jurassic Mörnsheim Formation of Germany
| Autor: | Junchang Lü, John R. Nudds, Martin Kundrát, Benjamin P. Kear, Per Ahlberg |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Avialae 010506 paleontology First specimen Mornsheim biology Context (language use) Jurassic biology.organism_classification 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Birds Paleontology Archaeopteryx Phylogenetics Synchrotron microtomography Origin of birds General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Geology 0105 earth and related environmental sciences |
| Zdroj: | Nudds, J, Kundrát, M, Kear, B, Ahlberg, P & Lu, J 2019, ' The first specimen of Archaeopteryx from the Upper Jurassic Mörnsheim Formation of Germany ', Historical Biology: an international journal of paleobiology, vol. 31, no. 1 . https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2018.1518443 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/08912963.2018.1518443 |
| Popis: | From an initial isolated position as the oldest evolutionary prototype of a bird, Archaeopteryx has, as a result of recent fossil discoveries, become embedded in a rich phylogenetic context of both more and less crownward stem-group birds, prompting debate over whether Archaeopteryx is simply a convergently bird-like non-avialan theropod. Here we show, using the first synchrotron microtomographic examination of this genus, that the eighth or Daiting specimen of Archaeopteryx possesses a character suite that robustly constrains it as a basal avialan (primitive bird). The specimen, which comes from the Mörnsheim Formation and is thus younger than the other specimens from the underlying Solnhofen Formation, is distinctive enough to merit designation as a new species, Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi sp. nov., but is recovered in close phylogenetic proximity to Archaeopteryx lithographica. Skeletal innovations of the Daiting specimen, such as fusion and pneumatization of the cranial bones, well vascularized pectoral girdle and wing elements, and a reinforced configuration of carpals and metacarpals, suggest that it may have had more characters seen in flying birds than the older Archaeopteryx lithographica. These innovations appear to be convergent on those of more crownward avialans, suggesting that Bavarian archaeopterygids independently acquired increasingly bird-like traits over time. Such mosaic evolution and iterative exploration of adaptive space may be typical for major functional transitions like the origin of flight. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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