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I read news stories about the discovery of extinct birds in Myanmar being preserved in Burmese amber. Does any have an idea of how these birds could have survived in Burmese amber without their skin decomposing? Can you image a Miocene fossil bird from the Caribbean being preserved in Dominican amber?

hey everyone - hope you're all well Thought this was worth sharing - a description of a well-preserved enantiornithean bird specimen from the Late Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation of Utah. It represents a new genus and species, Mirarce eatoni. The specimen was originally collected in 1992, but it was only recently described (and published yesterday!). Atterholt et al. (2018). The most complete enantiornithine from North America and a phylogenetic analysis of the Avisauridae. PeerJ, DOI 10.7717/peerj.5910 Abstract: The most complete known North American enantiornithine was collected in 1992 but never formally described. The so-called “Kaiparowits avisaurid” remains one of the most exceptional Late Cretaceous enantiornithine fossils. We recognize this specimen as a new taxon, Mirarce eatoni (gen. et sp. nov.), and provide a complete anatomical description. We maintain that the specimen is referable to the Avisauridae, a clade previously only known in North America from isolated tarsometatarsi. Information from this specimen helps to clarify evolutionary trends within the Enantiornithes. Its large body size supports previously observed trends toward larger body mass in the Late Cretaceous. However, trends toward increased fusion of compound elements across the clade as a whole are weak compared to the Ornithuromorpha. The new specimen reveals for the first time the presence of remige papillae in the enantiornithines, indicating this feature was evolved in parallel to dromaeosaurids and derived ornithuromorphs. Although morphology of the pygostyle and (to a lesser degree) the coracoid and manus appear to remain fairly static during the 65 million years plus of enantiornithine evolution, by the end of the Mesozoic at least some enantiornithine birds had evolved several features convergent with the Neornithes including a deeply keeled sternum, a narrow furcula with a short hypocleidium, and ulnar quill knobs—all features that indicate refinement of theflight apparatus and increased aerial abilities. We conduct the first cladistic analysis to include all purported avisuarid enantiornithines, recovering an Avisauridae consisting of a dichotomy between North and South American taxa. Based on morphological observations and supported by cladistic analysis, we demonstrate Avisaurus to be paraphyletic and erect a new genus for “A. gloriae,” Gettyia gen. nov. here's the paper: Atterholt et al. Hope you like it! -Christian

https://news.sky.com/story/prehistoric-baby-bird-could-help-shed-light-on-evolution-11277434

Dear Guys, I have found three coracoid bones in flintstone that are about 0,5 cm length and made the cavities of them by needle. There are two versions about these fossil ID in my opinion- enantiornithine bird or pterosaur (pterosaur is more possible because the lower wider part of bones is not very wide as in almost all birds and the pterosaur, e.g. ornithocheiridae coracoid shape is very similar!). If these are pterosaur coracoid bones they should belong to small species (maybe rhamphorhynchoids), if small bird bones- they should be very primitive, probably early Cretaceous and I do not know any birds with this shape except Enantiophoenix (Enantiophoenix coracoid is even little wider and the bone cavity is very small, not so big as in my specimens). Please help to identify these remains by the coracoid form in pterosaurs, primitive birds or even tiny dinosaurs. Any help will be appreciated! Best Regards Domas

Dear Guys, I recently collected three examples of interesting small bones that have the cavities in the same area, I found them in flint erratics of South Lithuania. One scientist (Jens Koppka) told be that one time the occasional bird bone in flint was found by his colleagues in Lithuania. I recenly found the link with very similar shape of bone known as Enantiophoenix in the middle picture of one publication that I share with you now : https://peerj.com/articles/1032/ Open this link and look for "Comparison of scapulocoracoid between the dromaeosaurid Balaur and other paravians", the cavity in the second scapulocoracoid picture is named as "snf". Please look at my fossil pictures and this link and help with confirmation if you could. Best Regards Domas

You should read these papers. They are very interesting: Carvalho, I.; Novas, F.E.; Agnolín, F.L.; Isasi, M.P.; Freitas, F.I.; Andrade, J.A.. (2015). "A new genus and species of enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil". Brazilian Journal of Geology 45 (2): 161–171. DOI:10.1590/23174889201500020001. Carvalho, I.; Novas, F.E.; Agnolín, F.L.; Isasi, M.P.; Freitas, F.I.; Andrade, J.A.. (2015). "A Mesozoic bird from Gondwana preserving feathers". Nature Communications 6. DOI:10.1038/ncomms8141. The discovery of Cratoavis in Brazil is remarkable because nearly all Early to Middle Cretaceous birds have been found in Laurasia (Nanantius is the only other pre-Santonian bird found in Gondwana). It'd be interesting to see if there might be any Early and Middle Cretaceous birds from North Africa and the rest of South America because we now know that the multitude of Early Cretaceous bird fossils in China was due to a Mesozoic version of Pompeii.