#longipteryx

[darknymfa-art]

Mayozoic day 10, Longipteryx chaoyangensis. Looong toothy beak, gotta love it.

[thatonegaycactus]

Day 130 of DDD! The Longipteryx! A bird from cretaceous china! As one can figure out from the fingers and teeth, it was not a close relative of modern day birds.

[herpsandbirds]

Direct evidence of frugivory in the Mesozoic bird Longipteryx contradicts morphological proxies for diet

Jingmai O’Connor, Alexander Clark, Fabiany Herrera, Xiaoting Zheng, Han Hu, Zhonghe Zhou

Summary

Diet is one of the most important aspects of an animal’s ecology, as it reflects direct interactions with other organisms and shapes morphology, behavior, and other life history traits. Modern birds (Neornithes) have a highly efficient and phenotypically plastic digestive system, allowing them to utilize diverse trophic resources, and digestive function has been put forth as a factor in the selectivity of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, in which only neornithine dinosaurs survived. Although diet is directly documented in several early-diverging avian lineages, only a single specimen preserves evidence of diet in , the dominant group of terrestrial Cretaceous birds. Morphology-based predictions suggest enantiornithines were faunivores, although the absence of evidence contrasts with the high preservation potential and relatively longer gut-retention times of these diets.  Longipteryx is an unusual Early Cretaceous enantiornithine with an elongate rostrum; distally restricted dentition; large, recurved, and crenulated teeth; and tooth enamel much thicker than other paravians. Statistical analysis of rostral length, body size, and tooth morphology predicts Longipteryx was primarily insectivorous.  Contrasting with these results, two new specimens of Longipteryx preserve gymnosperm seeds within the abdominal cavity interpreted as ingesta. Like Jeholornis, their unmacerated preservation and the absence of gastroliths indicate frugivory.  As in Neornithes, complex diets driven by the elevated energetic demands imposed by flight, secondary rostral functions, and phylogenetic influence impede the use of morphological proxies to predict diet in early-diverging avian lineages.

Read the paper here:

Direct evidence of frugivory in the Mesozoic bird Longipteryx contradicts morphological proxies for diet: Current Biology (cell.com)

[artmctalon]

Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation

An illustration sketched with a ballpoint pen during my breaks at work (we've had a couple of slow days recently).

Based on some of the vertebrate fossils known from the Jiufotang Formation in China's Liaoning Province.

Foreground: several generic caterpillars, two Microraptor specimens, and a bird based on Longipteryx.

Background: one Confuciusornis, more Longipteryx-based birds, some generic titanosaurs.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

my untreated sleep apnea was acting up buT I RETURN FROM MY ETERNAL NONRESTFUL SLUMBER to bring you our next dinosaur group race

Battle of the Toothy Birbs... Not Quite Modern But So Close

Hesperornithes (Hesperornis, Baptornis, Brodavis, Judinornis)

Basal Ornithurans (Ichthyornis, Janavis, Cimolopteryx, Apatornis, Qinornis)

Hongshanornithids (Hongshanornis, Tianyuornis, Longicrusavis, Archaeornithura)

Songlingornithids (Songlingornis, Yanornis, Yixianornis, Piscivoravis)

Euornithes of Uncertain Grouping (Patagopteryx, Gansus, Hollanda, Apsaravis)

Bohaiornithids (Eoenantiornis, Bohaiornis, Sulcavis, Parabohaiornis, Mystiornis

Pengornithids (Pengornis, Yuanjiawaornis, Parapengornis, Yuanchuavis)

Avisaurids (Avisaurus, Intiornis, Mirarce, Enantiophoenix)

Longipterygids (Iberomesornis, Rapaxavis, Longipteryx, Longirostravis)

Enantiornithes of Uncertain Grouping (Protopteryx, Elsornis, Gobiptery, Paravis)

Voting ended onFeb 25, 2023

enant groups based on Wang et al 2022 for my sanity

[albertonykus]

A field guide to Mesozoic Twitter birds and other winged dinosaurs.

All can be downloaded here. Feel free to use for your own purposes.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Longipteryx chaoyangensis

By José Carlos Cortés on @quetzalcuetzpalin-art​

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Name: Longipteryx chaoyangensis

Name Meaning: One with Long Wing Feathers 

First Described: 2001

Described By: Zhang et al. 

Classification: Dinosauria, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostylia, Ornithothoraces, Enantiornithes, Eoenantiornithes

Longipteryx is a well known Jiufotang Bird, living about 120 million years ago in the Aptian age of the Early Cretaceous. It is, thus, yet another in the long line of birdy animals from the Jehol Biota, and one of the many Opposite Birds known from the region. Longipteryx is known from multiple skeletons and was very well preserved, allowing for some decent idea of what it was like in life. It had a wingspan of about 34 centimeters and a body length of about 16 centimeters, and an estimated tail length of 18 centimeters, meaning that it had very large and broad wings, and a stubby tail without rectrices. It also had short legs.  

By El Fosilmaníaco, CC BY SA 4.0

Longipteryx had a long bill, with large curved teeth in the tips of the jaw. These teeth were large and conical but also flattened and curved, indicating that Longipteryx may have been a fishing organism, catching small fish out of the swamps and lakes in its environment. It probably would have been a decent percher, and may have even been arboreal, which might indicate that it was an insectivore instead of a piscivore. It is also entirely possible that it had a mixed lifestyle of both - with so many other animals to compete against for food in its environment, exploiting multiple sources of food may have been a decent ecological strategy. It may have lived very similarly to a modern-day kingfisher. 

By Scott Reid on @drawingwithdinosaurs

Longipteryx lived in a forested, temperate to subtropical swamp near stagnant lakes and rivers, and with its broad wings it probably used flapping flight to maneuver amongst the trees and, if it did fish for food, dive amongst these bodies of water looking for prey. It had a strengthened ribcage, which probably would have aided it in flight or support for its digestive system. It was very distinctive, even amongst Enantiornithines, for its unique combination of morphological traits. 

Sources:

Martyniuk, M. P. 2012. A Field Guide to Mesozoic Birds and other Winged Dinosaurs. Pan Aves; Vernon, New Jersey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longipteryx

Shout out goes to @aagx3!

[alphynix]

Longipteryx chaoyangensis, an enantiornithine from the Early Cretaceous of China, about 120 million years ago. With a body length of only around 15cm (6″), it had a long snout tipped with a few hooked teeth and feet capable of perching -- features that indicate it may have lived very similarly to modern kingfishers, feeding on fish and small invertebrates in its swampy forest habitat.

The enantiornithines were a sort of “cousin” lineage to modern birds. Most had toothy jaws and clawed wings, and the wide variety in their skull shapes suggests that they were specialized for many different dietary niches. The entire group went extinct during the K-Pg mass extinction and left no living descendants, but during the Cretaceous they were the most widespread and diverse group of birds*, with fossils currently known from every continent except Antarctica.

* Depending on how you define “bird”.