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Article Dans Une Revue Journal für Ornithologie = Journal of Ornithology Année : 2011

The earliest known pelican reveals 30 million years of evolutionary stasis in beak morphology

Résumé

The feeding apparatus of Paleogene birds is rarely well-preserved. Here, we describe the earliest known pelican (early Oligocene, Luberon, southeastern France), with its almost complete beak. Morphologically identical to modern pelicans, the new fossil already shows several advanced features unique to extant species of the genus Pelecanus. It probably belongs to the lineage ancestral to all or some of these pelican species. This fossil reveals a remarkable evolutionary stasis in the morphology of such an advanced avian feeding apparatus through ca. 30 million years. Several hypotheses are proposed to suggest explanations for such examples of long stases in volant homeothermic vertebrates.

Dates et versions

hal-02363441 , version 1 (14-11-2019)

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Antoine Louchart, Nicolas Tourment, Julie Carrier. The earliest known pelican reveals 30 million years of evolutionary stasis in beak morphology. Journal für Ornithologie = Journal of Ornithology, 2011, 152 (1), pp.15-20. ⟨10.1007/s10336-010-0537-5⟩. ⟨hal-02363441⟩
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