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A Large Ornithurine Bird (Tingmiatornis arctica) from the Turonian High Arctic: Climatic and Evolutionary Implications - PubMed Skip to main page content
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. 2016 Dec 19:6:38876.
doi: 10.1038/srep38876.

A Large Ornithurine Bird (Tingmiatornis arctica) from the Turonian High Arctic: Climatic and Evolutionary Implications

Richard K Bono  1 , Julia Clarke  2 , John A Tarduno  1   3 , Donald Brinkman  4
Affiliations

A Large Ornithurine Bird (Tingmiatornis arctica) from the Turonian High Arctic: Climatic and Evolutionary Implications

Richard K Bono et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Bird fossils from Turonian (ca. 90 Ma) sediments of Axel Heiberg Island (High Canadian Arctic) are among the earliest North American records. The morphology of a large well-preserved humerus supports identification of a new volant, possibly diving, ornithurine species (Tingmiatornis arctica). The new bird fossils are part of a freshwater vertebrate fossil assemblage that documents a period of extreme climatic warmth without seasonal ice, with minimum mean annual temperatures of 14 °C. The extreme warmth allowed species expansion and establishment of an ecosystem more easily able to support large birds, especially in fresh water bodies such as those present in the Turonian High Arctic. Review of the high latitude distribution of Northern Hemisphere Mesozoic birds shows only ornithurine birds are known to have occupied these regions. We propose physiological differences in ornithurines such as growth rate may explain their latitudinal distribution especially as temperatures decline later in the Cretaceous. Distribution and physiology merit consideration as factors in their preferential survival of parts of one ornithurine lineage, Aves, through the K/Pg boundary.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Regional map of the High Canadian Arctic; field locality shown by the red star. Inset: Map of North America, box shows High Canadian Arctic. Map created with Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) (Version 5.1.1). (b) Stratigraphic column of the mapped units (modified from ref. , reprinted with permission by AAAS), fossil bed is located within siltstone layer between Strand Fiord Fm. and Kanguk Fm.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Maps showing the distribution of Late Cretaceous birds in the Northern hemisphere based by stage; colors correspond with assigned stage based on the following: Late Albian and Cenomanian (reconstructed paleopositions shown for 100 Ma), magenta; Turonian (92 Ma), red; Coniacian (90 Ma), green; Santonian (86 Ma), yellow; Campanian (84 Ma), orange; and Maastrichtian (72 Ma), blue.
Symbols with multiple colors denote localities with age uncertainties that span across multiple stages. Fossil localities and their corresponding plates have been reconstructed to their paleopositions using plate models and rotation data presented in ref. . Circle symbols represent hesperornithiformes, triangles represent enantiornithes, and squares represent non-hesperornithiform ornithurines. The red star represents the locality shown in Fig. 1a. For reference, a 60° north latitude band is shown. Fossil distribution reconstructions were produced with GPlates (Version 1.5) and GMT (Version 5.1.1).
Figure 3
Figure 3. The holotype specimen of Tingmiatornis arctica, NUFV 1960, a complete left humerus.
Photograph (left) and x-ray computed tomography images (right) of the element in caudal, proximal, cranial, and ventral views.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Distal left humerus referred to Tingmiatornis arctica, UR 00.200.
Photograph of the element in (left to right) cranial, dorsal, ventral, and caudal views.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Proximal right ulna referred to Tingmiatornis arctica, NUFV 1838.
Photograph (left) and x-ray computed tomography images (right) of the element in ventral, proximal, dorsal and caudal views.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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