#asteriornis

[darknymfa-art]

Marchosauria day 18, Asteriornis maastrichtensis. One curious fowl-thing.

[cypressure]

the wonderchicken

[albertonykus]

It's been online for a while, but a new paper I'm on is out in final format today! Led by Abi Crane, we examined the lower jaw anatomy of three fossil birds: Asteriornis, Vegavis, and the pelagornithid Dasornis. These birds have been considered members of Galloanserae (the water- and landfowl clade), but for all three cases this classification has not gone unquestioned. We find that the lower jaw structure of Asteriornis is consistent with galloanseran affinities, whereas those of Vegavis and Dasornis lack clear galloanseran traits. So what type of birds are the latter two? Maybe future research will tell…

And for those who appreciate really deep cuts in Mesozoic theropod paleontology, we also speculate that the purported "Cretaceous parrot" jaw from the Lance Formation may belong to an Asteriornis-like bird!

For more details, the paper is open access and available here.

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

Results from the #paleostream! Today we did pieces inspired by talks give on yesterdays #PaleostreamCon2024

Williamsoniella coronata surviving ashfall, an adult Diplodocus based on preserved scales on a juvenile specimen, Nursallia in Cretaceous Lebanon and Asteriornis nesting in a mosasaur.

[thatonegaycactus]

Day 77 of DDD! The Asteriornis! Appeareantly it was one of the earliest of the "modern" birds.

I had to rush this one due to having to be on a bus for 7+ hours-

[otussketching]

Fossil Novembirb: Day 1 - The Chosen Ones

All the dinosaurs died out at the end of the Cretaceous during the K/Pg extinction event 66 million years ago. All of them? No! One group of dinosaurs managed to survive the event and are still around today. Neornithes, or Crown birds. They evolved during the end of the Cretaceous period, and by coincidence, had traits tohelp them survive the cataclysm. Here's a few of these early feathered friends.

Teviornis, a large wading Presbyornithid (flamingo-duck) from Mongolia

"Styginetta", a smaller Presbyornithid (flamingo duck) known from Western North America

Vegavis, a strange, small diving seabird related to ducks and geese, known from Antarctica

Asteriornis, sometimes called the "wonder-chicken", a tiny long legged shorebird related to the common ancestors of ducks and chickens, known from Belgium

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Round Two: Vorombe vs Asteriornis

Vorombe titan

Artwork by @otussketching, written by @zygodactylus

Name Meaning: Titan of the Big Birds 

Time: 10,000 years ago to sometime in the past 2000 years (Holocene epoch of the Quaternary period) 

Location: Southern Madagascar 

Vorombe is a newly erected genus of Elephant Bird, the largest that we know of! Whereas all species of Elephant Bird used to be put in the same genus, distinct differences among the types of Elephant Bird that we know of indicate they deserve their own genus names - and here we are! Vorombe was significantly larger than the other species of Elephant Bird, and probably was about 3 meters (nearly 10 feet) tall when standing. It was also ridiculously heavy, weighing around 650 kilograms. As such, Vorombe is currently the largest known bird ever recorded. It lived in the arid and succulent woodlands as well as the grassland mosaics, the weirdly unique habitats that charactierize Madagascar, and was a major feature in the functioning of those ecosystem - helping to spread plant seeds and maintain habitats as they lived within them. Vorombe and other Elephant Birds lived alongside a lot of weird animals during the Quaternary of Madadgascar, including dwarf hippos, giant tortoises, and giant lemurs. 

Note: A paper came out literally on the last day of February this year indicating Vorombe may not be its own genus. More work is needed to determine if this bird is distinct from Aepyornis. 

Asteriornis maastrichtensis

Artwork by @otussketching, written by @zygodactylus

Name Meaning: Asteria’s Maastrichtian Bird 

Time: 66.8 million years ago (Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous_ 

Location: Maastricht Formation, Eben-Emael, Belgium 

Say hello to the Wonderchicken! While we know that modern dinosaurs - birds - had to have evolved in the Mesozoic, and diversified somewhat during it, actual fossil representatives of Mesozoic modern birds are quite rare, with only a few duck-related taxa (Vegavis and Teviornis) known. Asteriornis finally adds a stem-chicken to that group, which we knew had to have been around since we had stem-ducks! (They diverged at the same time, so the presence of stem-ducks requires the presence of stem-chickens). A small, long-legged bird, Asteriornis had a lot of characteristics similar to both chickens and ducks, indicating it may have evolved right after that initial divergence. It had a slightly down-curved beak without specializations, allowing it to have a generalist diet. It had wings similar to living ground birds, and that combined with its long legs indicates a terrestrial lifestyle. Living along the coast, Asteriornis would have eaten whatever it could forage for, possibly wading into the water or trekking through high vegetation when necessary. It lived near the ocean, along the coast, and as such it shared its habitat with many types of invertebrates, including corals and echinoderms and crustaceans, as well as ammonites. Surrounded by grasses, palms, and shrubs, Asteriornis also lived alongside other vertebrates such as a wide variety of sharks, tons of mosasaurs, turtles, elasmosaurs, marsupials, and other dinosaurs such as Orthomerus, Janavis, large theropods, an unknown opposite-bird, and other potential Ornithurans. 

Vorombe or Asteriornis?

Vorombe

Asteriornis

Voting ended onMar 16, 2023

[si-nequal-is]

Asteriornis and Mosasaurus. Homage to cover art of <Painkiller> by Judas Priest