Tiny Fossil Reveals Unknown Songbird Lineage
Paleontologists have discovered a 2.9-cm-long fossilized foot bone of a possible bowerbird species in New Zealand.
The fossil, found at the Miocene locality of St Bathans, is of the species Aeviperditus gracilis, also known as the St Bathans bowerbird.
“This discovery provides a wonderful and unique insight into the biological history of Aotearoa birds,”said Dr. Nic Rawlence, Director of the Otago Palaeogenetics Laboratory.
The newly-identified species lived in New Zealand during the Miocene epoch, between 19 and 14 million years ago, far from its likely close relatives in Australia and New Guinea.
Image credit: Sasha Votyakova / Te Papa / CC BY 4.0.
Author's summary: Fossil reveals unknown songbird lineage.
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