A Euenantiornithine Bird from the Late Cretaceous Ha eg Basin of Romania

Wang, Xia; Dyke, Gareth J.; Codrea, Vlad; Godefroit, Pascal; Smith, Thierry

doi:10.4202/app.2010.0085

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The European record of latest Cretaceous birds is also poor. However, the current data show that both enantiornithines and ornithurines existed in the Limburg area during the late Maastrichtian ( Dyke et al 2008 ), and enantiornithines are also known from possibly ‘mid’- to upper Maastrichtian beds in Transylvania ( Wang et al 2011b ; Dyke et al 2012 ). The stratigraphically youngest record of the probably ornithurine giant bird Gargantuavis is early Maastrichtian in age ( Buffetaut and Angst 2013 ) but is unclear whether this endemic Ibero-Armorican taxon persisted into the late Maastrichtian.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

“…It is only very recently that the first unequivocal bird fossils were described, which include representatives of both Ornithurae ( Wang et al 2011a ; Fig. 10G ) and Enantiornithes ( Wang et al 2011b ). The description of new enantiornithine remains from the southwestern Transylvanian Basin ( Dyke et al 2012 ) further supported the presence of this group in Transylvania, while also suggesting a higher diversity of the clade.…”

Section: The Late Cretaceous Continental Vertebrate Faunas Of Europementioning

confidence: 99%

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Island life in the Cretaceous - faunal composition, biogeography, evolution, and extinction of land-living vertebrates on the Late Cretaceous European archipelago

Csiki-Sava¹,

Buffetaut²,

Ősi

et al. 2015

181

174

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The Late Cretaceous was a time of tremendous global change, as the final stages of the Age of Dinosaurs were shaped by climate and sea level fluctuations and witness to marked paleogeographic and faunal changes, before the end-Cretaceous bolide impact. The terrestrial fossil record of Late Cretaceous Europe is becoming increasingly better understood, based largely on intensive fieldwork over the past two decades, promising new insights into latest Cretaceous faunal evolution. We review the terrestrial Late Cretaceous record from Europe and discuss its importance for understanding the paleogeography, ecology, evolution, and extinction of land-dwelling vertebrates. We review the major Late Cretaceous faunas from Austria, Hungary, France, Spain, Portugal, and Romania, as well as more fragmentary records from elsewhere in Europe. We discuss the paleogeographic background and history of assembly of these faunas, and argue that they are comprised of an endemic ‘core’ supplemented with various immigration waves. These faunas lived on an island archipelago, and we describe how this insular setting led to ecological peculiarities such as low diversity, a preponderance of primitive taxa, and marked changes in morphology (particularly body size dwarfing). We conclude by discussing the importance of the European record in understanding the end-Cretaceous extinction and show that there is no clear evidence that dinosaurs or other groups were undergoing long-term declines in Europe prior to the bolide impact.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Section: The Late Cretaceous Continental Vertebrate Faunas Of Europementioning

confidence: 99%

Island life in the Cretaceous - faunal composition, biogeography, evolution, and extinction of land-living vertebrates on the Late Cretaceous European archipelago

Csiki-Sava¹,

Buffetaut²,

Ősi

et al. 2015

181

174

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“…Avialans are represented by Enantiornithes (Wang et al . 2011 a ) and an indeterminate gargantuaviid (Mayr et al . 2020 a ).…”

Section: The Upper Cretaceous Theropod Fossil Record In Europementioning

confidence: 99%

Upper Cretaceous European theropod palaeobiodiversity, palaeobiogeography and the intra‐Maastrichtian faunal turnover: new contributions from the Iberian fossil site of Laño

Isasmendi

Hernández

Currie

et al. 2022

Papers in Palaeontology

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A total of 227 theropod teeth have so far been recovered from the upper Campanian Laño site (northern Iberian Peninsula). The teeth were studied for their qualitative and quantitative features. From the theropod sample found at Laño, seven morphotypes attributed to five taxa are identified: a medium to large abelisaurid (Arcovenator sp.) and four small coelurosaurians (Dromaeosauridae indet., Paraves indet., cf. Paronychodon sp. and cf. Richardoestesia sp.) Together with the ground bird Gargantuavis and a possible ornithomimosaur, the theropod fauna of Laño might be composed of two medium–large‐sized non‐avian theropods, four small‐bodied non‐avian theropods and a large terrestrial bird. This makes the Laño site the richest and most diverse latest Cretaceous theropod site in Europe. Furthermore, the Laño site and the Upper Cretaceous localities of Europe that have yielded theropod remains suggest that the medium–large‐sized theropods were abelisaurids or indeterminate theropods. The small theropods are more abundant, diverse and represented by different dromaeosaurids, Paronychodon, Richardoestesia or related forms, troodontids and, probably, by other paravians. Of the birds, enantiornithines, gargantuaviids and ornithurines are also common in the European Upper Cretaceous sites. The theropod assemblage of Laño, together with the taxa of other Upper Cretaceous sites, supports the idea that several theropod dispersal events took place during the Cretaceous. This resulted in a mixture of European endemic, Asiamerican and Gondwanan forms. This study also supports the hypothesis that the intra‐Maastrichtian faunal turnover that occurred in the Ibero‐Armorican landmass seems to have had no apparent effect on theropods.

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“…Unfortunately, none of these elements overlap with those present in the Od accumulation. Wang et al (2011) described two enantiornithine humeri from the Hateg Basin that differ in the shapes of their proximal ends from the element present in the Od assemblage: the caput humeri of the Od enantiornithine and Enantiornis is smoothly rounded, whereas in the specimens described by Wang et al (2011) the head is raised proximally and is more angular. This may very well be a size-related difference, but more fossils will be required to test this supposition.…”

Section: Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A drowned Mesozoic bird breeding colony from the Late Cretaceous of Transylvania

Dyke

Vremir²,

Kaiser

et al. 2012

Naturwissenschaften

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Despite a rapidly improving fossil record, the reproductive biology of Mesozoic birds remains poorly known: only a handful of undisputed, isolated Cretaceous eggs (some containing embryonic remains) are known. We report here the first fossil evidence for a breeding colony of Mesozoic birds, preserved at the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Oarda de Jos (Od) site in the Sebeş area of Transylvania, Romania. A lens of calcareous mudstone with minimum dimensions of 80 cm length, 50 cm width and 20 cm depth contains thousands of tightly packed, morphologically homogenous eggshell fragments, seven near-complete eggs and neonatal and adult avialan skeletal elements. Eggshell forms 70-80 % of the matrix, and other fossils are entirely absent. The bones exhibit clear characters of the Cretaceous avialan clade Enantiornithes, and the eggshell morphology is also consistent with this identification. Both taphonomy and lithology show that the components of this lens were deposited in a single flood event, and we conclude that it represents the drowned remains of a larger enantiornithine breeding colony, swamped by rising water, washed a short distance and deposited in a shallow, low-energy pond. The same fate often befalls modern bird colonies. Such a large concentration of breeding birds suggests aquatic feeding in this species, augments our understanding of enantiornithine biology and shows that colonial nesting was not unique to crown birds.

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A Euenantiornithine Bird from the Late Cretaceous Ha eg Basin of Romania

Cited by 14 publications

References 24 publications

Island life in the Cretaceous - faunal composition, biogeography, evolution, and extinction of land-living vertebrates on the Late Cretaceous European archipelago

Island life in the Cretaceous - faunal composition, biogeography, evolution, and extinction of land-living vertebrates on the Late Cretaceous European archipelago

Upper Cretaceous European theropod palaeobiodiversity, palaeobiogeography and the intra‐Maastrichtian faunal turnover: new contributions from the Iberian fossil site of Laño

A drowned Mesozoic bird breeding colony from the Late Cretaceous of Transylvania

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