By José Carlos Cortés on @ryuukibart
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Name: Septencoracias morsensis
Described By: Bourdon et al.
Classification: Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Passerea, Telluraves, Afroaves, Coraciimorphae, Eucavitaves, Cavitaves, Picocoraciae, Picodynastornithes, Coraciiformes, Primobucconidae
In my constant quest to make my life no harder than it has to be, I’m adding all newly described genera of dinosaurs as extras to the schedule, rather than moving the schedule around it (because my birthday week and april fool’s prevent just shifting it). So we get a newly described Neornithean! Specifically it’s a Coraciiform, a group of birds including Kingfishers, rollers, Todies, and Bee-Eaters. Septencoracias (Northern Raven) was a very early member of that group, living about 54 million years ago, in the Ypresian age of the Early Eocene Epoch, Paleogene Era. This was very early on, and its discovery is an important one in understanding the rapid and early diversification of Neornithean dinosaurs after the end-Cretaceous extinction. It was found in the Fur Formation of Denmark and it was very similar in appearance to modern rollers, despite being far removed from them in terms of geologic time.
Figure 1 from the Describing Paper, by Bourdon et al.
It’s known from an almost complete skeleton, squashed into the rock layer; and indicates that roller-like animals were already diversified in the earliest parts of the Eocene, and not the Miocene as previously believed. It also lacks the features of the modern members of the group, indicating its lower position in the family tree. It had a syndactyl foot, meaning two of the toes of the foot were fused, indicating it was an early trait for the broader Coraciiform group. It was also very similar to another early roller, Primobucco, which also lived in the Eocene, though it was based on more scattered remains and wasn’t particularly informative on the early evolution of this group. It also was about 25 cm long in body length, putting it on the smaller end of the scale for its family group.
Figure 3 from the paper, a reconstruction of Septencoracias, by Bourdon et al.
Septencoracias was found with fish remains in the gut region of the animal, and are from some of the more common fish of the Fur Formation. They were probably preserved stomach content, rather than the animals being fossilized on top of each other; indicating that Septencoracias was a fish eater. This would not be surprising as many Coraciiformes are also in a similar niche, though many modern rollers eat mostly insects and small terrestrial vertebrates. This indicates that early members of the group were more flexible in their feeding habits than modern ones, though Septencoracias probably also fed on arthropods and small terrestrial vertebrates. It lived in a tropical to subtropical climate, much more northern in range than most modern rollers, indicating that this group had a wider distribution prior to the cooling of the planet, when their ideal habitats were restricted to smaller regions.
Bourdon, E., An. V. Kristoffersen, N. Bonde. 2016. A roller-like bird (Coracii) from the Early Eocene of Denmark. Scientific Reports 6, 34050 doi:1-.1038/srep34050
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coraciiformes
Shout out goes to @glenndajorge-blog-blog!
