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; Zhonghe Zhou

doi:10.1038/ncomms7987

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, Zhonghe Zhou

Department of Biological Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	6987-1-6987-9
Number of pages	9
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7987
Publication status	Published - 2015

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title = "The oldest record of ornithuromorpha from the early cretaceous of China",

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.",

author = "Min Wang and Xiaoting Zheng and O'Connor, {Jingmai K.} and Lloyd, {Graeme T.} and Xiaoli Wang and Yan Wang and Xiaomei Zhang and Zhonghe Zhou",

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AU - O'Connor, Jingmai K.

AU - Lloyd, Graeme T.

AU - Wang, Xiaoli

AU - Wang, Yan

AU - Zhang, Xiaomei

AU - Zhou, Zhonghe

N1 - Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - 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.

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The oldest record of ornithuromorpha from the early cretaceous of China

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