—A new species of ancient bird has been discovered by a trio of researchers working in the New Mexico desert—its fossilized remains were found in the Nacimiento Formation in the San Juan Basin. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Daniel Ksepka with the Bruce Museum, Thomas Stidham with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Thomas Williamson with the New Mexico Museum of Natural History describe the fossil that was found and how it contributes to better understand bird evolution after the massive die-off that led to the extinction of most of the dinosaurs.
Approximately 65 million years ago, planetary scientists believe, a large asteroid struck the Earth near what is now the Yucatan Peninsula. The impact and its aftermath were so massive that it caused the extinction of approximately 70 percent of plants and animals on the planet. Scientists have been able to piece together what happened to many land animals in the millions of years after the great extinction, but little progress has been made regarding birds. Because their bones are smaller and more fragile, birds do not fossilize as well as other animals. Thus, they leave behind fewer traces of their existence. That is why the new find is so important—because it is helping to fill in the phylogenetic tree
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-species-ancient-bird-mexico.html#jCp
No comments:
Post a Comment