Asteriornis ("Asteria's bird"[1]) is an extinct genus of bird from the Late Cretaceous of Belgium which is known from a single species, Asteriornis maastrichtensis. It was closely related to birds of the extant superorder Galloanserae such as chickens and ducks. Members of the genus were small, long-legged birds (~394 grams [13.9 oz])[1][2] that lived near the coastline and co-existed with more "primitive" types of birds such as Ichthyornis. Asteriornis is one of the oldest-known birds irrefutably belonging to the group Neornithes, which encompasses all modern birds. It possesses characteristics of both galliformes (chicken-like birds) and anseriformes (duck-like birds), indicating its position as a close relative of the last common ancestor for both groups.[1][3]
Asteriornis may shed light on why Neornithes were the only dinosaurs to survive the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Its coexistence with non-neornithean birds such as Ichthyornis implies that competition was not a primary factor for the extinction of non-neornitheans, which resembled modern birds in most respects but died out with other non-avian dinosaurs. Small size,[4] a terrestrial lifestyle,[5] and a generalist diet[6] have all been inferred as ecological advantages possessed by early neornithes, allowing them to survive and diversify in the wake of the extinction.[3][7]Asteriornis fulfills these qualities, suggesting that such suspicions were justified.[1]Asteriornis is also evidence against a different hypothesis stating that modern birds originated from southern continents. This was supported by biogeographic ancestral reconstructions using phylogenies[8] and the discovery of Vegavis (a possible neornithean from Antarctica),[9] but Asteriornis's presence in Europe suggests that modern birds may have been widespread in northern continents in their early evolution.[1]
^ abcdeField, Daniel J.; Benito, Juan; Chen, Albert; Jagt, John W. M.; Ksepka, Daniel T. (18 March 2020). "Late Cretaceous neornithine from Europe illuminates the origins of crown birds". Nature. 579 (7799): 397–401. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2096-0. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 32188952. S2CID 212937591.
^Field, Daniel J.; Lynner, Colton; Brown, Christian; Darroch, Simon A. F. (2013-11-29). "Skeletal Correlates for Body Mass Estimation in Modern and Fossil Flying Birds". PLOS One. 8 (11): e82000. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...882000F. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082000. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3843728. PMID 24312392.
^ abPadian, Kevin (18 March 2020). "Poultry through time". Nature. 579 (7799): 351–352. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-00766-2. PMID 32188944.
^Berv, Jacob S.; Field, Daniel J. (2018-01-01). "Genomic Signature of an Avian Lilliput Effect across the K-Pg Extinction". Systematic Biology. 67 (1): 1–13. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syx064. ISSN 1063-5157. PMC 5837713. PMID 28973546.
^Field, Daniel J.; Bercovici, Antoine; Berv, Jacob S.; Dunn, Regan; Fastovsky, David E.; Lyson, Tyler R.; Vajda, Vivi; Gauthier, Jacques A. (2018-06-04). "Early Evolution of Modern Birds Structured by Global Forest Collapse at the End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction". Current Biology. 28 (11): 1825–1831.e2. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.062. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 29804807.
^Larson, Derek W.; Brown, Caleb M.; Evans, David C. (2016-05-23). "Dental Disparity and Ecological Stability in Bird-like Dinosaurs prior to the End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction". Current Biology. 26 (10): 1325–1333. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.039. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 27112293.
^Ksepka, Daniel T.; Stidham, Thomas A.; Williamson, Thomas E. (2017-07-10). "Early Paleocene landbird supports rapid phylogenetic and morphological diversification of crown birds after the K–Pg mass extinction". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (30): 8047–8052. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114.8047K. doi:10.1073/pnas.1700188114. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 5544281. PMID 28696285.
^Claramunt, Santiago; Cracraft, Joel (2015-12-01). "A new time tree reveals Earth history's imprint on the evolution of modern birds". Science Advances. 1 (11): e1501005. Bibcode:2015SciA....1E1005C. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1501005. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 4730849. PMID 26824065.
^Clarke, Julia A.; Tambussi, Claudia P.; Noriega, Jorge I.; Erickson, Gregory M.; Ketcham, Richard A. (20 January 2005). "Definitive fossil evidence for the extant avian radiation in the Cretaceous" (PDF). Nature. 433 (7023): 305–308. Bibcode:2005Natur.433..305C. doi:10.1038/nature03150. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 15662422. S2CID 4354309.
Asteriornis ("Asteria's bird") is an extinct genus of bird from the Late Cretaceous of Belgium which is known from a single species, Asteriornis maastrichtensis...
Extinct Birds of North America. Washington: Government Printing Office. Asteriornis Dinosaurs portal Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ichthyornis....
to provide a fossil evidence of modern bird diversification. In 2020, Asteriornis from the Maastrichtian was described, it appears to be a close relative...
additionally present new data on the bone histology and hindlimb length of Asteriornis maastrichtensis. Stoicescu et al. (2024) describe partial femur of an...
of osteosclerosis could be related to variations in diving behaviour. Asteriornis Birds portal Paleontology portal Ksepka, D.; Clarke, J. (2015). "Phylogenetically...
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