The first Cretaceous bird from Madagascar

WE report the discovery of two exquisitely preserved specimens of a new, very primitive bird from the Late Cretaceous period of Madagascar. The new taxon, Vorona berivotrensis , is provisionally placed phylogenetically in an unresolved trichotomy with Enantiornithes and a clade consisting of Patagop...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1996-08, Vol.382 (6591), p.532-534
Main Authors: Forster, Catherine A., Chiappe, Luis M., Krause, David W., Sampson, Scott D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Birds
Classification
Cretaceous
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
multidisciplinary
Ornithology
Paleontology
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Vertebrate paleontology
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Summary:WE report the discovery of two exquisitely preserved specimens of a new, very primitive bird from the Late Cretaceous period of Madagascar. The new taxon, Vorona berivotrensis , is provisionally placed phylogenetically in an unresolved trichotomy with Enantiornithes and a clade consisting of Patagopteryx and Ornithurae. These specimens are the first known pre-Holocene birds from Madagascar and the first avian skeletal remains from the Mesozoic era of a large portion of Gondwana.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/382532a0