By Xinyi Li, iChongqing News
Chongqing- Found in Hukawng Valley, it is the first ancient bird case encased in amber, attracting experts and media both in China and abroad. According to the pozzolanic determination of Hukawng Valley, the amber was formed 99 million years ago, which the era belongs to the early period of Late Cretaceous.
What does it look like? How is its lifestyle like?
An ancient bird was found encased in the amber, which has a bizarrely long toe
A unique and entirely new species of bird
Ninety-nine million years ago, this little bird’s leg avoided the erosion of nature via amber. Recently, it was brought back to a Chinese museum by a collector, Chen Guang and a paleontological team led by Xing Lida began their research on the fossilized leg.
The amber is tiny, with 3.5 centimeters long and 5.5 grams weight. Although it is small, X-ray microtomography can still provide detailed materials of its structure. According to the specimen, every toe of the bird’s leg is extended, of which the third one is the longest toe with 9.8 millimeters long, which is much longer than others.
The regression image of the bird
Additionally, the team had compared it with other existing or recording bird species, and this one has a notably different structure. Therefore, the amber bird is a unique and entirely new species of an ancient bird.
On July 11 this year, the team released important news – humans have found a new ancient bird species inside the amber for the first time among burmite amber, defining the Genus as Elektorornis and the Species as Elektorornis chenguangi.
Smaller than a sparrow, hooking worms by using the toe
How little is the amber bird? What are its living habits?
To answer this question, Xing Lida indicated that the amber bird is tiny, smaller than a sparrow since the saved leg is about 3 centimeters long.
“Before this time, ancient birds from Hukawng Valley are altricialities (baby birds), but the amber bird we found for this time is the sub-adult or adult one,” said Zou Jingmei, a researcher of the Xing’s team. “The remarkable feature of this bird is that its third toe is particularly long, and this is the first time it appears in any bird species. Moreover, its claws are really curved. All things indicate that this bird is an arboreal bird.”
The bird was kept so well that it’s easy to observe its scales and filament feathers on the surface of the toe, under the microscope
Xing said it was hard to define the function of the long third toe since there are no similar bird species now. Strengthening the force of grasping might adapt arboreal life better. However, if integrating information on scales and filament feathers, the structure should relate to preying.
Like a woodpecker, the amber bird stands on trees, foraging for insects and prey on trunks on branches. But while a woodpecker uses its beak, the amber bird hooks insects using it's longclaw or toe.
Since amber is fossilized tree resin, it has an appreciated color and natural beauty, like a gemstone. The leg, especially toes of the amber bird, presents the evolution of Enantiornithes in Cretaceous. Furthermore, it might explain the prey method what birds used before but gave up now.
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