A new skull of Gobipteryx minuta (Aves, Enantiornithes) from the Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert

Related Titles

Series: American Museum novitates, no. 3346

By

Chiappe, Luis M.

Norell, Mark A.
Clark, James Matthew, 1956-
Mongolian-American Museum Paleontological Project.
Mongolyn Shinzhlėkh Ukhaany Akademi.

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

New York, NY American Museum of Natural History c2001

Notes

Title from caption.

"August 28, 2001."

Specimen collected in 1994 from Ukhaa Tolgod in the Nemegt Valley, Mongolia, during the Mongolian Academy of Sciences-American Museum of Natural History Expeditions to the Gobi Desert. (Introduction)

We describe an exquisitely preserved new skull of a bird from the late Cretaceous sandstones of Ukhaa Tolgod, southern Mongolia. Derived similarities shared between this skull and the holotype of Gobipteryx minuta, also from the late Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert, support the assignment of the new cranial material to this avian taxon. The new skull also proves indistinguishable from that of the enantiornithine Nanantius valifanovi from the late Cretaceous of Mongolia. The identification of the new skull as that of Gobipteryx minuta and its correspondence to that of Nanantius valifanovi indicate that the latter taxon is a junior synonym of Gobipteryx minuta. This taxonomic conclusion is crucial for understanding the phylogenetic relationships of Gobipteryx minuta because the undoubtedly enantiornithine postcranial morphology of Nanantius valifanovi provides the first uncontroversial evidence of the enantiornithine relationship of Gobipteryx minuta. The new skull from Ukhaa Tolgod and our reinterpretation of cranial aspects of the previously published material of Gobipteryx minuta and Nanantius valifanovi permit an accurate reconstruction of the palate of this enantiornithine bird, thus adding significant data for understanding the poorly known palatal structure of Mesozoic birds.

Subjects

Birds, Fossil , Cretaceous , Gobipteryx minuta , Mongolia , Paleontology , Skull , Ukhaa Tolgod

Call Number

QL1 .A436 no.3346 2001

Language

English

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2001)346<0001:ANSOGM>2.0.CO;2
OCLC: 47913624