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Yumenornis, Changmaornis, Jiuquanornis: new Cretaceous ornithuromorph birds from China.



Make that "ornithuromorph" in subject line.....

On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 2:10 PM, Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com> wrote:
> From: Ben Creisler
> bcreisler@gmail.com
>
>
> New in PLoS ONE:
>
> Ya-Ming Wang, Jingmai K. O'Connor, Da-Qing Li & Hai-Lu You (2013)
> Previously Unrecognized Ornithuromorph Bird Diversity in the Early
> Cretaceous Changma Basin, Gansu Province, Northwestern China.
> PLoS ONE 8(10): e77693.
> doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0077693
> http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0077693
>
>
> Here we report on three new species of ornithuromorph birds from the
> Lower Cretaceous Xiagou Formation in the Changma Basin of Gansu
> Province, northwestern China: Yumenornis huangi gen. et sp. nov.,
> Changmaornis houi gen. et sp. nov., and Jiuquanornis niui gen. et sp.
> nov.. The last of these is based on a previously published but unnamed
> specimen: GSGM-05-CM-021. Although incomplete, the specimens can be
> clearly distinguished from each other and from Gansus yumenensis Hou
> and Liu, 1984. Phylogenetic analysis resolves the three new taxa as
> basal ornithuromorphs. This study reveals previously unrecognized
> ornithuromorph diversity in the Changma avifauna, which is largely
> dominated by Gansus but with at least three other ornithuromorphs.
> Body mass estimates demonstrate that enantiornithines were much
> smaller than ornithuromorphs in the Changma avifauna. In addition,
> Changma enantiornithines preserve long and recurved pedal unguals,
> suggesting an arboreal lifestyle; in contrast, Changma ornithuromorphs
> tend to show terrestrial or even aquatic adaptions. Similar
> differences in body mass and ecology are also observed in the Jehol
> avifauna in northeastern China, suggesting niche partitioning between
> these two clades developed early in their evolutionary history.