Archaeology News Online

More species of birds have accumulated in genera inhabiting climatically stable areas. This is shown by a new study from Umea University. Bar-tailed Godwit [Credit: Umea University] "The explanation may be that a stable climate makes it more likely that diverging lineages persist without going extinct or merging until speciation is completed, and stability reduces the risk for extinction in response to climatic upheavals," says Roland Jansson, researcher from Umea University who led the study. How life has evolved from simple origins into millions of species is a central question in biology that remains unsolved. Advances in genomics and bioinformatics mean we now know a lot about the relationships among species and their origins, but surprisingly little is known about which environmental conditions that allows species to multiply. In a project focusing on how climate changes in the past affects the evolution of biodiversity, researchers tried to fill this knowledge gap. They...

Following a discovery in 2015 in Alberta's Dinosaur Provincial Park, Greg Funston puzzled for two years over a mysterious bone trying to identify the species of animal—as well as the part of the body—the bone belonged to. Three Pteranodon Longicepts fly over a misty prehistoric seascape, with two diplodocus dinosaurs  near the shore [Credit: Seeker] "It confused us for a long time, because it's such an unusual bone," said Funston, a UAlberta PhD student in paleontology. "There are a lot of features to it, but none of them are like anything we've ever seen before." Funston initially thought the bone might belong to either a theropod dinosaur or a prehistoric bird. After exhaustive comparison to other known species and insight from pterosaur expert and UAlberta alumna Liz Martin-Silverstone, the team knew the bone was part of the pelvis that belonged to the pterosaur species, an ancient non-dinosaurian reptile species typically associated with flight. They...

Bruce Museum Curator Dr. Daniel Ksepka has published a research paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science announcing the discovery of a new species of fossil bird in New Mexico. Artist’s rendering of Tsidiiyazhi abini [Credit: Sean Murtha] The fossil is important because it is the oldest tree-dwelling species among modern bird groups. It lived just a few million years after the dinosaurs went extinct. Because of its place in the arboreal crown, the new species shows that birds radiated explosively in the aftermath of the Cretaceous mass extinction, rapidly splitting into different forms to pursue a variety of diets and lifestyles. The bones were found by 11-year-old twins Ryan and Taylor Williamson, the sons of paleontologist Tom Williamson, one of the co-authors of the research. Surprisingly, the fossil belongs to a mousebird, a type of bird which today lives only in Africa. The team named the new species Tsidiiyazhi abini. Fossil bones of Tsidiiyazhi abini, a 62.5 ...

More species of birds have accumulated in genera inhabiting climatically stable areas. This is shown by a new study from Umea University. Bar-tailed Godwit [Credit: Umea University] "The explanation may be that a stable climate makes it more likely that diverging lineages persist without going extinct or merging until speciation is completed, and stability reduces the risk for extinction in response to climatic upheavals," says Roland Jansson, researcher from Umea University who led the study. How life has evolved from simple origins into millions of species is a central question in biology that remains unsolved. Advances in genomics and bioinformatics mean we now know a lot about the relationships among species and their origins, but surprisingly little is known about which environmental conditions that allows species to multiply. In a project focusing on how climate changes in the past affects the evolution of biodiversity, researchers tried to fill this knowledge gap. They...

Following a discovery in 2015 in Alberta's Dinosaur Provincial Park, Greg Funston puzzled for two years over a mysterious bone trying to identify the species of animal—as well as the part of the body—the bone belonged to. Three Pteranodon Longicepts fly over a misty prehistoric seascape, with two diplodocus dinosaurs  near the shore [Credit: Seeker] "It confused us for a long time, because it's such an unusual bone," said Funston, a UAlberta PhD student in paleontology. "There are a lot of features to it, but none of them are like anything we've ever seen before." Funston initially thought the bone might belong to either a theropod dinosaur or a prehistoric bird. After exhaustive comparison to other known species and insight from pterosaur expert and UAlberta alumna Liz Martin-Silverstone, the team knew the bone was part of the pelvis that belonged to the pterosaur species, an ancient non-dinosaurian reptile species typically associated with flight. They...