A true carinate bird from lower Cretaceous deposits in Mongolia and other evidence of early Cretaceous birds in Asia |
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| Authors: | Evgeny N Kurochkin |
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| Institution: | Paleontological Institute, U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, Profsojuznaja 113, Moscow 117321 U.S.S.R. |
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| Abstract: | A partial, associated skeleton with feather impressions of a bird from early Cretaceous (Neocomian) deposits in Mongolia constitutes a new family and order (Ambiortidae, Ambiortiformes). The specimen presents a mosaic of archaic and specialised characters within the Class Aves and shows that advanced carinate birds existed some 10 to 12 million years after Archaeopteryx, lending tentative support to the idea that Archaeopteryx may not be representative of the state of avian evolution in the late Jurassic. The new specimen and numerous feather impressions from other early Cretaceous localities in Mongolia and the Soviet Union, indicate that birds were probably common in early Cretaceous biotas. |
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| Keywords: | Birds Feather Impressions Neocomian Mongolia |
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