Earliest zygodactyl bird feet: evidence from Early Cretaceous roadrunner-like tracks |
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Authors: | Martin G Lockley Rihui Li Jerald D Harris Masaki Matsukawa Mingwei Liu |
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Institution: | (1) Dinosaur Tracks Museum, University of Colorado at Denver, Denver, CO 80217, USA;(2) Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, China Geological Survey, Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China;(3) Science Department, Dixie State College, 225 South 700 East, St. George, UT 84770, USA;(4) Department of Environmental Sciences, Tokyo Gakugei University, Koganei Tokyo, 184-8501, Japan;(5) Fourth Geological and Mineral Resources Survey of Shandong, Wei-fang, 261021, People’s Republic of China |
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Abstract: | Fossil footprints are important in understanding Cretaceous avian diversity because they constitute evidence of paleodiversity
and paleoecology that is not always apparent from skeletal remains. Early Cretaceous bird tracks have demonstrated the existence
of wading birds in East Asia, but some pedal morphotypes, such as zygodactyly, common in modern and earlier Cenozoic birds
(Neornithes) were unknown in the Cretaceous. We, herein, discuss the implications of a recently reported, Early Cretaceous
(120–110 million years old) trackway of a large, zygodactyl bird from China that predates skeletal evidence of this foot morphology
by at least 50 million years and includes the only known fossil zygodactyl footprints. The tracks demonstrate the existence
of a Cretaceous bird not currently represented in the body fossil record that occupied a roadrunner (Geococcyx)-like niche, indicating a previously unknown degree of Cretaceous avian morphological and behavioral diversity that presaged
later Cenozoic patterns.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Keywords: | Zygodactyl Cretaceous Roadrunner China Evolution Diversity |
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