Oldest Bird

[Shellseeker]

 

One for @Auspex in case he missed it.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00876-x

Skull found by an amateur fossil hunter in Belgium, now THAT is a candidate for FOTM!!! Enjoy

 

[ziggycardon]

Such a great find, I was really excited when I read the news a few months back as the block of limestone with the skull was found in a quarry in Eben-Emael, the place where I did my first ever fossil hunt.   

 

 

 

[jpc]

1 hour ago, ziggycardon said:

Such a great find, I was really excited when I read the news a few months back as the block of limestone with the skull was found in a quarry in Eben-Emael, the place where I did my first ever fossil hunt.   

 

 

I love that the guy in the video (Daniel Field) has a lapel pin of a canyon wren European Dipper. 

 

I also love that they micro CTed the thing.  The video does not make it clear, but the rock he is holding in his hand with the skull is the actual fossil.  The skull must be a 3d print.  The colored skull shown with other skulls is a also a 3d print where each bone is a different color.  I will say, though, that as a preparator, I hope we are not replaced by all this cool technology.  

[ParkerPaleo]

25 minutes ago, jpc said:

I love that the guy in the video (Daniel Field) has a lapel pin of a canyon wren European Dipper. 

 

I also love that they micro CTed the thing.  The video does not make it clear, but the rock he is holding in his hand with the skull is the actual fossil.  The skull must be a 3d print.  The colored skull shown with other skulls is a also a 3d print where each bone is a different color.  I will say, though, that as a preparator, I hope we are not replaced by all this cool technology.  

Molding and casting did not replace the desire to study the original fossil.  I wouldn't expect this to either.  Just another tool in the researcher's bag.

[DD1991]

The title of this thread is a bit inaccurate ---- the oldest birds appeared in the Jurassic, so Asteriornis is clearly the oldest crown bird (that is, Neornithes).

[Shellseeker]

31 minutes ago, DD1991 said:

crown bird

Wow... I must admit  I went down an incorrect path.  I saw an article in the news media referring to the oldest "modern" bird and did not stop to think about the implied definition of "modern".... at the least it meant that there was some other defined bird that was not included in the word modern, that had to be older that the 66 myas of this bird.

I was about to reply that I know about other birds in rock that existed prior to 66 myas when I noted your use of the word crown bird.  Did that mean there were birds without "crowns"?  That seemed strange.  so I did a search of "crown bird definition" and it started with a lot of entries on the definition of "crown" on all modern birds,  but then !!!

 

Thanks for the correction.  Learned something new.  I had no clue what a crown and a stem actually meant.