New fossil bird from China

[Dinotoyforum]

Eoconfuciusornis



www.newscientist.com/channel/life/dn13824-ancient-bird-is-missing-link-to-iarchaeopteryxi.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

[crazycrowman]

Confuciusornids are a fascinating lot.

At a rather quick glance, Its tail feathers/general plan/skull look similar to modern Mousebirds (Coliiformes), which are rather primative things to begin with. Though it has better developed wings, and its feet do not appear to be, at least from here, pampodactyl. Known mousebird fossils, at least from what I know about them, have only been dated back to the (49MYA) Eocene from the Messel shales.


Here is a shot of Oreo, our White Backed Mousebird. If you ever get to see one of these in action, you would be amused. We joke all the time that he is more "reptile" then bird.

[EmperorDinobot]

Fascinating.

[Dinotoyforum]

That's one nice mousebird!

I wonder if the black colouration is in the fossil is an artifact?

[crazycrowman]

"That's one nice mousebird!"

Thanks. I have worked with birds for a long time, but when I found out that there was a woman captive breeding these things in the states, and handfeeding them, I just had to get one. Oreo is almost a year old, and has remained very tame and easy to handle.

They are quite different from all other bird species, and are considered one of the "living fossil" species. They have dense feathers, which are very fur like, and grow all over thier bodies, (no feather tracts like most birds) strange feet, stranger legs, (I have included a photo of Oreos normal perching posture....they hang! - I wonder why no one has ever done a reconstruction of a Confuciusornid like that ?)

They have neat feet. They can use thier toes like a "hand" to grab things, like a parrot or an owl, and they can also reverse all the toes forward when they hang to dangle off a branch or a small lip on a rock. I do think they look similar to the feet on the recent Eoconfuciusornis find, but, really, I am not an avian foot specialist. I myself wonder if all Confuciusornids may not have had pamprodactyl feet, and if that has been studied ? (As a side not, you can see how "hairy" the feathers on his body are in this photo compared to many other modern bird species)

They are a tad messy, and oreo eats all sorts of softbilled bird pellets, chopped fruit, a specialized crumble mix, some insects like crickets and superworms, and as a real treat he gets a baby mouse every now and then.

Mousebirds use thier crazy tails to balance them and act as a support against a tree when they are climbing, sort of like how some parrots and woodpeckers do. They can scurry and hop.

"I wonder if the black colouration is in the fossil is an artifact?"

Could be. I know when I see Confuciusornis reconstructions, I always think of the colors that are on modern mousebirds, though, to be fair, for all we know, they could have been pink and florescent blue.

[Dinotoyforum]

Very interesting, this photo especially, The claws do almost look like hands here:



Thanks for sharing it.