![]() (Here’s how advanced x-ray scanning is helping us find out whether the famous bird-like dinosaur Archaeopteryx could fly.) “The application of new technology really has the ability to revolutionize paleontology,” says Jingmai O’Connor, an expert on early birds at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, China. Some of the newfound specimens remain embedded in rock, but by CT-scanning the fossils and combining the results, Field and coauthor Bhart-Anjan Bhullar of Yale University created an almost complete 3-D digital reconstruction of an Ichthyornis skull, which they reveal today in the journal Nature. “Bird skulls are at a real premium among paleontologists, as they don’t get preserved in most circumstances,” says study leader Daniel Field of the University of Bath in the U.K. Illustration by Michael Hanson (Left) and Image courtesy Daniel Field (Right) Right: This 3-D reconstruction of an Ichthyornis skull is based on high-resolution CT scans of fossils found in Kansas. ![]() Left: A life reconstruction of Ichthyornis, based on the newfound fossil and 3-D scans. Now, paleontologists have unveiled an extraordinary Ichthyornis skull, along with three partial cranial fossils-the first new skulls of the species to be described in 148 years. And until now, none of the hundred or so specimens of Ichthyornis have included decent skulls, leaving a gap in our understanding of how the avian head evolved. While many stunning specimens of Cretaceous birds have been found in China, these fossils are often compressed almost flat, leaving researchers guessing at the original shape of the skulls. (See a Cretaceous baby bird found preserved in amber.) ![]() The species hails from a time in the Cretaceous period, between 100 and 66 million years ago, when birds were in the process of losing many of the traits inherited from their dinosaur forebears and evolving into the winged, feathered creatures we know today. The first known fossil of the ancient bird Ichthyornis was unearthed in 1870 in Kansas, under the direction of legendary fossil-hunter Othniel Charles Marsh. Bhullar (2018) “Complete Ichthyornis skull illuminates mosaic assembly of the avian head” is published in Nature DOI: 10.1038/s4158-y.Ī delicate but remarkably well-preserved fossil skull is providing new clues to how birds evolved from their dinosaur ancestors. Wilson, Kristopher Super, Dana Ehret, Jun A. ![]() Field, Michael Hanson, David Burnham, Laura E. DINO-ERA BIRD SKULLS REVEALED IN 3-D SCANS Video: Daniel J. ![]()
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