A prehistoric toothed bird that lived 67 million years ago is turning the bird tree of life on its head
. It was found in a geological layer that dates back to the Late Cretaceous period , just before the mass extinction event that wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs. At the time of the fossil’s discovery, it seemed to comprise just a handful of bones from the spine, wings, shoulders and legs.
As their names suggest, it has long been assumed that the ancient-jawed palaeognaths appeared firstand the neognaths descended from a palaeognath ancestor, after the last common ancestor of all modern birds lived some 80 million years ago, says Field. In part, this is because non-avian dinosaurs that pre-date modern birds also have fused palates.
“It’s a reverse way of looking at things to what we often have been assuming,” says vertebrate palaeontologist Trevor Worthy at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia.evolved from their fused-palate dinosaur ancestors. He says that bird fossils from the early Cretaceous – if they have preserved pterygoids — could hold to answer that question.
Fused palates aren’t necessarily a drawback, says Stidham, and could give beaks of larger birds additional support. Although the structures differ, “the function is basically the same”, he says, and both versions are able to flex and transfer force towards the beak tip.
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