#protodontopteryx

[thatonegaycactus]

Day 189 of DDD! The Protodontopteryx! A marine bird that lived after a few million years after the extinction of non avian dinosaurs. It is the most basal and smallest known pelagornithid!

[darknymfa-art]

Julaves day 8, Protodontopteryx ruthae. Excuse the blurry upscaling but putting all four of these in a vertical row would make for an unpleasantly long post, I think.

[otussketching]

Fossil Novembirb: Day 3 - Race to the Sea

During the start of the Cenozoic, the oceans were relatively empty. Gone were the great marine reptiles like mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, as were ammonites and many large predatory fish. As soon as birds could, they entered the ocean to reap its bounties, whether by flying over the surface or diving to the depths. This is especially evident in Aotearoa (New Zealand), where lots of early seabirds, including the first penguins, were found in Paleocene sediments dating about 62 million years ago.

Kumimanu: One of the largest known penguins, and one of the earliest, standing over 1,5 metres tall and weighing 90-150 kilograms.

Sequiwaimanu: Another early penguin, known from a skull that preserves a long, spear-like beak.

Muriwaimanu: A relatively small early penguin. Like other early penguins, it had relatively long legs and somewhat flexible wings.

Kupoupou: A small early penguin with derived traits, like a flipper-like wing and short legs.

Waimanu: The earliest known penguin, and also relatively large at the size of the modern king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus)

Protodontopteryx: The earliest known pelagornithid, large soaring marine birds. This earliest member of the family sports a "modest" 2-metre wingspan.

Clymenoptilon: An early representative of tropicbirds that may have lived somewhat like a tern.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Vorombe vs Protodontopteryx

Vorombe (left) or Protodontopteryx (right)?

Vorombe

Protodontopteryx

Voting ended onMar 9, 2023

Factfiles:

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. 

Protodontopteryx ruthae

Artwork by @otussketching, written by @zygodactylus

Name Meaning: Ruth Love’s First Pseudotoothed Bird

Time: 62 million years ago (Danian stage of the Paleocene epoch, Paleogene period)

Location: Mt. Ellen Member, Waipara greensand, Aotearoa 

Pseudotoothed birds, the strange fever dream of the Cenozoic, are something of a mystery. They don’t have a clear set of transitional fossils from ancestor to first members. It is uncertain what sorts of modern birds they’re most closely related to. But, luckily, Protodontoperyx helps to put some of the pieces together. The earliest known member of the group - and the smallest - Protodontoperyx seems to have had a wingspan of approximately 1 meter long, much smaller than other Pseudotoothed Birds. It does have the psuedoteeth that characterize the group, indicating they evolved rapidly after the end-Cretaceous extinction. It had much bigger nostrils than later pseudotoothed birds, interestingly enough, indicating it wasn’t quite as adapted to marine life as its later relatives and as such, Protodontoperyx does showcase some interesting transitional anatomy for this group. While later taxa were long-term soaring birds, Protodontopteryx probably lived most similarly to an albatross, selecting targeted prey such as fish and not engaging in long term flights. In its early coastal environment, Protodontopteryx wasn’t alone, but surrounded by other early radiating animals following the extinction - a huge diversity of sharks, but also early penguins and relatives of Mesozoic Neornithine birds that survived into the Cenozoic. As such, Protodontopteryx lived in a weirdly transitional ecosystem, showcasing the rise of Cenozoic Birds as the impact winter began to dissipate at last. 

DMM Round One Masterpost

[albertonykus]

A selection of new dinosaurs named in 2019.

[merelygifted]

'Amazing' ancient seabird fossil found in New Zealand sparks rethink of bird's evolution | Environment | The Guardian