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Pelagornis chilensis
Topic Started: Jan 8 2012, 02:16 PM (3,608 Views)
Taipan
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Pelagornis chilensis

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Fossil range: Early Miocene-Early Pleistocene
(Aquitanian-Gelasian)

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Subclass: Neornithes
Infraclass: Neognathae
Order: Odontopterygiformes
Family: Pelagornithidae
Genus: Pelagornis
Species: Pelagornis chilensis

Pelagornis is a widely-known genus of the prehistoric pseudotooth birds. These were probably rather close relatives of either pelicans and storks, or of waterfowl, and are here placed in the order Odontopterygiformes to account for this uncertainty.

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Giant Fossil Bird Found With Spiky "Teeth"

Boasting a 17-foot (5.2-meter) wingspan and sharp, spiny "pseudoteeth," this ancient seabird is one of the largest flying birds known, according to a study released Wednesday.


Soaring above the oceans and mountains of what's now Chile between five and ten million years ago, the newly discovered species, named Pelagornis chilensis, was part of a prehistoric group known as the bony-toothed birds. The hollow spikes on the birds' beaks allowed the predators to grab slippery squid and fish from the ocean.

P. chilensis was identified based on an "exquisitely and exceptionally preserved" fossil skeleton that was found to be 70 percent complete, said study co-author David Rubilar of the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural in Chile.

The specimen includes the largest and most complete fossil bird wing yet excavated. Previous bony-toothed bird fossils included wings dug up in pieces, if it all, making it harder to accurately establish wingspan.

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Seen in an artist's rendering of its standing skeleton, P. chilensis resembles a modern albatross—except that the new species stood about 4 feet (1.25 meters) tall. (See an albatross picture.)

Because the two birds are structurally similar, studying a modern albatross's lifestyle is an excellent way to learn more about what the prehistoric seabird's daily life might have been like, Rubilar said.

In general, bony-toothed birds aren't well understood, because they had incredibly lightweight bones, which were often too brittle to withstand the fossilization process. But the P. chilensis specimen was discovered largely intact in a fine sandstone in northern Chile, Rubilar said.

And more such fossils may be coming, he added. "The fossils in this [sandstone layer] are abundant. ... Probably we'll find more and more complete specimens in the future."

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A picture of the fossil skull of P. chilensis reveals a beak lined with pseudoteeth.

Bony-toothed birds didn't chew their prey but used the false teeth to snatch fish and squid from the water's surface before swallowing them whole, said Estelle Bourdon, a researcher with the American Museum of Natural History, who was not involved in the study.

The birds, which scanned seas worldwide for more than 50 million years, likely went extinct about 2.5 million years ago, near the end of the Pliocene epoch, Bourdon said. (See a prehistoric time line.)

Although the giant seabirds "would have looked like creatures from Jurassic Park," they're true birds and not flying reptiles, lead author Gerald Mayr, of the Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg in Germany, said in a statement. In fact, he added, it's possible some of the last living members of P. chilensis existed at the same time as the earliest human ancestors in North Africa.

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The giant seabird P. chilensis was probably a glider, not a flapper, researchers say. Above, an artist's rendering shows the bird's skeleton and life reconstructions as the species would have appeared in flight.

The shape of the species' arm bones shows that P. chilensis couldn't rotate its wings to flap and provide lift, Rubilar said. Instead, the seabird "just opened its arms" and—like modern Andean condors—caught updrafts rising from the Andes to become airborne and stay aloft for miles.

Modern albatrosses, the largest of which are about two-thirds the size of P. chilensis, can travel hundreds of miles without flapping.

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An artist's rendering shows what the skeleton of P. chilensis would have looked like in flight when seen from above. The well-preserved fossil has given researchers incontrovertible proof of the ancient bird's wingspan.

The new study shows that the arm bone of P. chilensis is nearly 40 percent longer than that of Argentavis magnificens, the largest known flying bird, which lived in Argentina six million years ago, study co-author Rubilar said.

But Argentavis likely had longer feathers, he noted, which means it holds on to the wingspan record—for now.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/photogalleries/100915-giant-bird-wingspan-science-chilensis-teeth-pictures/
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Taipan
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Fossil of Giant Bony-Toothed Bird from Chile Sets Wingspan Record

ScienceDaily (Sep. 19, 2010) — A newly discovered skeleton of an ancient seabird from northern Chile provides evidence that giant birds were soaring the skies there 5-10 million years ago. The wing bones of the animal exceed those of all other birds in length; its wingspan would have been at least 5.2 m (17 ft.). This is the largest safely established wingspan for a bird. Other, larger estimates for fossil birds have been based on much less secure evidence.

The new bird belongs to a group known as pelagornithids, informally referred to as bony-toothed birds. They are characterized by their long, slender beaks that bear many spiny, tooth-like projections. Such 'teeth' likely would have been used to capture slippery prey in the open ocean, such as fish and squid.

“Bird watching in Chile would be thrilling if birds with more than five meter wingspans and huge pseudoteeth were still alive,” said Dr. Gerald Mayr of the Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg in Germany, lead author on the study

Fossils of bony-toothed birds are found on all continents, but such remains are usually fragmentary. This is because most birds have fragile bones that often do not survive the fossilization process. Only a single partial skeleton of a bony-toothed bird was known prior to discovery of the new Chilean specimen, and it is badly crushed. The new specimen, which is 70% complete and uncrushed, provides important new information about the size and anatomy of these strange birds. It is the largest bony-toothed bird discovered so far. It also represents a new species named after its country of origin: Pelagornis chilensis.

“Although these animals would have looked like creatures from Jurassic Park, they are true birds, and their last representatives may have coexisted with the earliest humans in North Africa,” said Mayr.

Knowledge of the maximum size that can be reached by a flying bird is important for understanding the physics behind how birds fly. This new fossil may therefore help scientists better appreciate physical and anatomical constraints in very large birds.

“This specimen greatly improves our knowledge of the appearance of one of the most spectacular and fascinating animals that crossed the skies,” said the study’s co-author, Dr. David Rubilar of the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Chile.

A life-size reconstruction of the skeleton will be on exhibition in the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

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Artist's perception of Pelagornis chilensis in life.


Journal Reference:

Mayr et al. Osteology of a new giant bony-toothed bird from the Miocene of Chile, with a revision of the taxonomy of Neogene Pelagornithidae. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2010; 30 (5): 1313 DOI: [url]10.1080/02724634.2010.501465[/url]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100918210719.htm
Edited by Taipan, Apr 16 2014, 12:47 PM.
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Taipan
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herpestes42
 
What was its mass?


Well according to this :

"This prehistoric bird weighed about 64 pounds and belonged to a group known as pelagornithids — birds characterized by long, slender beaks bearing many spiny, tooth-like projections. It's now thought that 17 feet may be close to the maximum wingspan that can be achieved by a flying bird because of weight and other complications."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39194076/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Any suggestions for matchups?

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NeoNotoungulata
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Heterotrophic Organism
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Such a beaut, i wud have loved to see one compared to a shoyru and lenny....
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