A Fish-Eating Enantiornithine Bird from the Early Cretaceous of China Provides Evidence of Modern Avian Digestive Features

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.02.055

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	A Fish-Eating Enantiornithine Bird from the Early Cretaceous of China Provides Evidence of Modern Avian Digestive Features
	Wang, Min; Zhou, Zhonghe; Sullivan, Corwin
刊名	CURRENT BIOLOGY
	2016-05-09
卷号	26 期号:9 页码:1170-1176
DOI	10.1016/j.cub.2016.02.055
文献子类	Article
英文摘要	Modern birds differ from their theropod ancestors in lacking teeth and heavily constructed bony jaws, having evolved a lightly built beak and a specialized digestive system capable of processing unmasticated food [1, 2]. Enantiornithes, the most successful clade of Mesozoic birds, represents the sister group of the Ornithuromorpha, which gave rise to living birds [3]. Nevertheless, the feeding habits of enantiornithines have remained unknown because of a lack of fossil evidence. In contrast, exceptionally preserved fossils reveal that derived avian features were present in the digestive systems of some non-enantiornithine birds with ages exceeding 125 million years [4, 5]. Here, we report a new piscivorous enantiornithine from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of China. This specimen preserves a gastric pellet that includes fish bones. The new enantiornithine, like many modern piscivores and raptors, seems to have swallowed its prey whole and regurgitated indigestible materials such as bones, invertebrate exoskeletons, scales, and feathers. This fossil represents the oldest unambiguous record of an avian gastric pellet and the only such record from the Mesozoic. The pellet points to a fish diet and suggests that the alimentary tract of the new enantiornithine resembled that of extant avians in having efficient antiperistalsis and a two-chambered stomach with a muscular gizzard capable of compacting indigestible matter into a cohesive pellet. The inferred occurrence of these advanced features in an enantiornithine implies that they were widespread in Cretaceous birds and likely facilitated dietary diversification within both Enantiornithes and Ornithuromorpha.
WOS关键词	JEHOL BIOTA ; DIET ; DINOSAURS ; VERTEBRATES ; COPROLITES ; SPECIMEN ; TEETH
WOS研究方向	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology ; Cell Biology
语种	英语
WOS记录号	WOS:000375413700022
资助机构	National Natural Science Foundation of China(41502002 ; Youth Innovation Promotion Association (CAS)(2016073) ; National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program)(2012CB821906) ; 91514302)
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://124.16.247.212/handle/311034/7112]
专题	古脊椎动物与古人类研究所_图书馆1 古脊椎动物与古人类研究所_古低等脊椎动物研究室
作者单位	Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Vertebrate Paleontol & Paleoanthropol, Key Lab Vertebrate Evolut & Human Origins, 142 Xizhimenwai St, Beijing 100044, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Wang, Min,Zhou, Zhonghe,Sullivan, Corwin. A Fish-Eating Enantiornithine Bird from the Early Cretaceous of China Provides Evidence of Modern Avian Digestive Features[J]. CURRENT BIOLOGY,2016,26(9):1170-1176.
APA	Wang, Min,Zhou, Zhonghe,&Sullivan, Corwin.(2016).A Fish-Eating Enantiornithine Bird from the Early Cretaceous of China Provides Evidence of Modern Avian Digestive Features.CURRENT BIOLOGY,26(9),1170-1176.
MLA	Wang, Min,et al."A Fish-Eating Enantiornithine Bird from the Early Cretaceous of China Provides Evidence of Modern Avian Digestive Features".CURRENT BIOLOGY 26.9(2016):1170-1176.