Recently,Nature Communications published a study on the feeding habits of an ancient extinct bird called Jeholornis from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of China led by researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Pa...Recently,Nature Communications published a study on the feeding habits of an ancient extinct bird called Jeholornis from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of China led by researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.1 Jeholornis and its closely related species are regarded as part of the second most primitive lineage in the family tree of birds,retaining a long bony dinosaurian tail,small teeth,and large claws on the wings.Adopting an interdisciplinary approach,the scientific team discovered hundreds of phytoliths originated from the leaves of the basal angiosperm group called magnoliids(which includes living magnolias,cinnamon,and avocadoes),while investigating the stomach residues contents of a well-preserved 120-million-year-old juvenile Jeholornis fossil.These fossil phytoliths are the first confirmation that help point to the origin and evolution of leaf eating in ancient birds and further sketch an interesting scientific story about the early interactions between birds and flowering plants(Figure 1).展开更多
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC41472025)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41572021)+2 种基金the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS, XDB03020501)funded by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2012CB821904)the Geological Survey Projects of China Geological Survey Bureau (Grant No. 1212011120142)~~
基金National Science Foundation of China(Grant No.42288201,Craton destruction and terrestrial life evolution)NSFC 41877427 and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Science(No.XDB26000000)+1 种基金National Key R&D Program of China(2022YFF0801500)We thank Xu Yong for producing the attractive artistic reconstruction of the new specimen.
文摘Recently,Nature Communications published a study on the feeding habits of an ancient extinct bird called Jeholornis from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of China led by researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.1 Jeholornis and its closely related species are regarded as part of the second most primitive lineage in the family tree of birds,retaining a long bony dinosaurian tail,small teeth,and large claws on the wings.Adopting an interdisciplinary approach,the scientific team discovered hundreds of phytoliths originated from the leaves of the basal angiosperm group called magnoliids(which includes living magnolias,cinnamon,and avocadoes),while investigating the stomach residues contents of a well-preserved 120-million-year-old juvenile Jeholornis fossil.These fossil phytoliths are the first confirmation that help point to the origin and evolution of leaf eating in ancient birds and further sketch an interesting scientific story about the early interactions between birds and flowering plants(Figure 1).
