Relative brain sizes in birds can rival those of primates, but large-scale patterns and drivers of avian brain evolution remain elusive. Here, we explore the evolution of the fundamental brain-body scaling relationship across the origin and evolution of birds. Using a comprehensive dataset sampling> 2,000 modern birds, fossil birds, and theropod dinosaurs, we infer patterns of brain-body co-variation in deep time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFModern birds (crown group birds, called Neornithes) are toothless; however, the extinct neornithine Odontopterygiformes possessed bone excrescences (pseudoteeth) which resembled teeth, distributed sequentially by size along jaws. The origin of pseudoteeth is enigmatic, but based on recent evidence, including microanatomical and histological analyses, we propose that conserved odontogenetic pathways most probably regulated the development of pseudodentition. The delayed pseudoteeth growth and epithelium keratinization allowed for the existence of a temporal window during which competent osteoblasts could respond to oral epithelial signaling, in place of the no longer present odontoblasts; thus, bony pseudoteeth developed instead of true teeth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe fossil record of crown group birds (Neornithes) prior to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary is scarce and fragmentary. Early Cenozoic bird fossils are more abundant, but are typically disarticulated and/or flattened. Here we report the oldest roller (Coracii), Septencoracias morsensis gen.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe extinct Lithornithidae include several genera and species of flying palaeognathous birds of controversial affinities known from the Early Paleogene of North America and Europe. An almost complete, articulated skeleton from the Early Eocene marine deposits of the Fur Formation (Denmark) was recently assigned to Lithornis vulturinus Owen, 1840. This study provides a detailed redescription and comparison of this three-dimensionally preserved specimen (MGUH 26770), which is one of the best preserved representatives of the Lithornithidae yet known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe evolution of the avian brain is of crucial importance to studies of the transition from non-avian dinosaurs to modern birds, but very few avian fossils provide information on brain morphological development during the Mesozoic. An isolated specimen from the Cenomanian of Melovatka in Russia was described by Kurochkin and others as a fossilized brain, designated the holotype of Cerebavis cenomanica Kurochkin and Saveliev and tentatively referred to Enantiornithes. We have previously highlighted that this specimen is an incomplete skull, rendering the diagnostic characters invalid and Cerebavis cenomanica a nomen dubium.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExtinct animal behavior has often been inferred from qualitative assessments of relative brain region size in fossil endocranial casts. For instance, flight capability in pterosaurs and early birds has been inferred from the relative size of the cerebellar flocculus, which in life protrudes from the lateral surface of the cerebellum. A primary role of the flocculus is to integrate sensory information about head rotation and translation to stabilize visual gaze via the vestibulo-occular reflex (VOR).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe presence of bone growth marks reflecting annual rhythms in the cortical bone of non-avian tetrapods is now established as a general phenomenon. In contrast, ornithurines (the theropod group including modern birds and their closest relatives) usually grow rapidly in less than a year, such that no annual rhythms are expressed in bone cortices, except scarce growth marks restricted to the outer cortical layer. So far, cyclical growth in modern birds has been restricted to the Eocene Diatryma, the extant parrot Amazona amazonica and the extinct New Zealand (NZ) moa (Dinornithidae).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe phylogenetic affinities of the extinct pseudo-toothed birds have remained controversial. Some authors noted that they resemble both pelicans and allies (Pelecaniformes) and tube-nosed birds (Procellariiformes), but assigned them to a distinct taxon, the Odontopterygiformes. In most recent studies, the pseudo-toothed birds are referred to the family Pelagornithidae inside the Pelecaniformes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF