Environment & Ecology
Context: Recently, paleontologists have announced the discovery of a fossil beaked bird ancestor in Northeastern China.
- The nearly complete fossil is of a beaked bird that lived in what is now China during the Early Cretaceous epoch, some 119 million years ago.
About Confuciusornis shifan:
- Confuciusornis is a genus of extinct raven-billed bird in the family Confuciusornithidae.
- Confuciusornithidae is a clade of Early Cretaceous pygostylian birds known from the Jehol Biota of East Asia.
- It weighed less than 200 grams and was smaller than most other confuciusornithid species.
- It represents the earliest known toothless, beaked birds.
- It is different from other Mesozoic birds due to the presence of an additional cushion-like bone in the first digit of the wing.
- This feature is significant as it may have helped the bird meet the functional demand of flight at a stage when the skeletal growth was still incomplete.
Source: Sci.news
Previous Year Question
Q.1) Which of the following is not a bird? (2022)
- Golden Mahseer
- Indian Nightjar
- Spoonbill
- White Ibis
