Vegavis is a
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
of extinct
birdBirds are winged, bipedal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the Bee Hummingbird to the ...
that lived during the
Late CretaceousThe Late Cretaceous is the youngest of two epochs in which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
(
MaastrichtianThe Maastrichtian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the latest age or upper stage of the Late Cretaceous epoch or Upper Cretaceous series, the Cretaceous period or system, and of the Mesozoic era or erathem. It spanned from 70.6 ± 0.6 Ma to 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma...
stage) of
Antarctica| style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding:0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align:top;" | 14,000,000 km
2 280,000 km
2 13,720,000 km
2 |-! style="border-top: solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding: 0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align: top;...
, some 65
myaIn astronomy, geology, and paleontology, mya or "m.y.a." is an abbreviation for "million years ago". Like the related unit bya, mya is traditionally written in lower case...
. It belonged to the
cladeA clade is a term used in modern alpha taxonomy, the scientific classification of living and fossil organisms, to describe a monophyletic group, defined as a group consisting of a single common ancestor and all its descendants.[The term "monophyletic group" is used in this article...]
AnseriformesThe order Anseriformes contains about 150 living species of birds in three extant families: the Anhimidae , Anseranatidae , and the Anatidae, which includes over 140 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans.All species in the order are highly adapted for an aquatic existence at...
. Among modern birds,
Vegavis is most closely related to
duckDuck is the common name for a number of species in the Anatidae family of birds. The ducks are divided between several subfamilies listed in full in the Anatidae article; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered ducks...
s and
geeseThe word Goose is the English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller....
(
AnatidaeAnatidae is the biological family that includes ducks, geese and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica and on most of the world's islands and island groups...
), but it is not considered to be a direct ancestor of them.
The discovery of the
type speciesIn taxonomy, a type species is a technical phrase, involved in the application of formal names...
,
Vegavis iaai, demonstrates that the major groups of bird alive today had already diversified in the
CretaceousThe Cretaceous , Latin language for "chalky", usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
.
Vegavis is a
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
of extinct
birdBirds are winged, bipedal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the Bee Hummingbird to the ...
that lived during the
Late CretaceousThe Late Cretaceous is the youngest of two epochs in which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
(
MaastrichtianThe Maastrichtian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the latest age or upper stage of the Late Cretaceous epoch or Upper Cretaceous series, the Cretaceous period or system, and of the Mesozoic era or erathem. It spanned from 70.6 ± 0.6 Ma to 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma...
stage) of
Antarctica| style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding:0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align:top;" | 14,000,000 km
2 280,000 km
2 13,720,000 km
2 |-! style="border-top: solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding: 0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align: top;...
, some 65
myaIn astronomy, geology, and paleontology, mya or "m.y.a." is an abbreviation for "million years ago". Like the related unit bya, mya is traditionally written in lower case...
. It belonged to the
cladeA clade is a term used in modern alpha taxonomy, the scientific classification of living and fossil organisms, to describe a monophyletic group, defined as a group consisting of a single common ancestor and all its descendants.[The term "monophyletic group" is used in this article...]
AnseriformesThe order Anseriformes contains about 150 living species of birds in three extant families: the Anhimidae , Anseranatidae , and the Anatidae, which includes over 140 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans.All species in the order are highly adapted for an aquatic existence at...
. Among modern birds,
Vegavis is most closely related to
duckDuck is the common name for a number of species in the Anatidae family of birds. The ducks are divided between several subfamilies listed in full in the Anatidae article; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered ducks...
s and
geeseThe word Goose is the English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller....
(
AnatidaeAnatidae is the biological family that includes ducks, geese and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica and on most of the world's islands and island groups...
), but it is not considered to be a direct ancestor of them.
The discovery of the
type speciesIn taxonomy, a type species is a technical phrase, involved in the application of formal names...
,
Vegavis iaai, demonstrates that the major groups of bird alive today had already diversified in the
CretaceousThe Cretaceous , Latin language for "chalky", usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
. This supports the longstanding phylogenetic inferences of
paleornithologistsPaleornithology also known as Avian Paleontology is the scientific study of bird evolution and fossil birds. It is a mix of ornithology and paleontology. Paleornithology began with the discovery of Archaeopteryx. The reptilian relationship of birds and their ancestors, the theropod dinosaurs, are...
. It has been hailed as the first definitive physical proof that representatives of some of the groups of modern birds lived in the
MesozoicThe Mesozoic Era is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon. The division of time into eras dates back to Giovanni Arduino, in the 18th century, although his original name for the era now called the "Mesozoic" was "Secondary" The Mesozoic Era is one of three geologic eras of the...
.
The
Vegavis fossil specimen is held by the Museo de La Plata,
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
. The specimen, cataloged as MLP 93-I-3-1, was found in the Cape Lamb deposits of
Vega IslandVega Island is a small island to the northwest of James Ross Island, on the Antarctic Peninsula.It is one of several islands around the peninsula known as Graham Land, which is closer to South America than any other part of that continent....
, Antarctica, in 1992, but was only described as a new species in 2005 because it consists of the very delicate remains of one bird embedded in a
concretionA concretion is a volume of sedimentary rock in which a mineral cement fills the porosity . Concretions are often ovoid or spherical in shape, although irregular shapes also occur. The word 'concretion' is derived from the Latin con meaning 'together' and crescere meaning 'to grow'...
, which had to be meticulously prepared for study. CT scans were utilized to gain a clearer picture of the bone structure without running danger of damaging or destroying the bones.
The genus name,
Vegavis, is a combination of the name of Vega Island and "avis", the Latin word for bird. The species name, "iaai", is after the acronym for Instituto Antartico Argentino (IAA), the Argentine scientific expedition to Antarctica.
External links