Australornis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Australornis |
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Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | †Vegaviiformes |
| Family: | †Vegaviidae |
| Genus: | †Australornis Mayr & Scofield, 2014 |
| Type species | |
| Australornis lovei Mayr & Scofield, 2014
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Australornis (which means "southern bird" in Latin) is a type of extinct (no longer living) seabird. Its fossils were found in New Zealand. This bird lived during the Paleocene time period, about 60.5 to 61.6 million years ago. The name Australornis lovei comes from "australis" (Latin for "southern") and "ornis" (Greek for "bird"). The "lovei" part honors Leigh Love, a person who loves studying fossils and found this bird.
Australornis is one of the oldest flying seabirds ever found. It's also the first fossil of a non-penguin bird from New Zealand from that ancient time. This fossil comes from a time right after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which happened 66 million years ago. This was the big event that caused the dinosaurs to disappear. The features of Australornis show it doesn't belong to any bird families alive today. Instead, it's part of an older group of birds that are now extinct. This makes it a very important discovery for understanding how birds have changed over time.
Australornis is also important for understanding where animals lived long ago. New Zealand was much closer to Antarctica during the Late Cretaceous and Early Paleocene periods. This bird likely lived over the deep, warm waters off the coast of Zealandia. Zealandia is a continent that is now mostly underwater. It sank after breaking away from Australia between 60 and 85 million years ago. New Zealand sits on top of Zealandia.
Discovering Australornis
The fossil of Australornis was found in 2009. Leigh Love discovered it in a place called the Waipara Greensand in north Canterbury, on the South Island of New Zealand. This area is known for its Paleocene fossils.
The fossil was then taken to the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch. It stayed on the museum shelves for several years. This was because earthquakes made it hard for the museum staff to work. In 2014, Dr. Gerald Mayr and Dr. Paul Scofield described the fossil. Dr. Mayr is from the Naturmuseum Senckenberg in Frankfurt. Dr. Scofield works at the Canterbury Museum. They published their findings in a science journal called the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
What Australornis Looked Like
Australornis was about 70 to 85 centimetres (28 to 33 in) long. This is similar in size to a pied shag, which is a type of water bird. Scientists believe it weighed between 1.5 to 2 kilograms (3.3 to 4.4 lb).
Scientists know about Australornis from these fossil bones:
- a part of its right shoulder bone (called a coracoid)
- a part of its right shoulder blade (scapula)
- most of its right upper arm bone (humerus)
- the top part of its right forearm bone (ulna)
- pieces of another forearm bone (radius)
- a bone from its left wrist (os carpi radiale)
The bones from its wing and shoulder area are quite unique. Even though there aren't enough fossils to fully connect Australornis to modern bird groups, it shares some special features. These features are also seen in modern bird groups like Procellariiformes (like albatrosses), Gaviiformes (loons), and Rallidae (like rails).
Australornis lovei also has similarities to two other fossil birds found in Antarctica. These are Vegavis iaai and Polarornis gregorii. Vegavis iaai was found from the Late Cretaceous period (68 - 66 million years ago) on Vega Island. Polarornis gregorii was found from the Late Cretaceous on Seymour Island. Both of these birds were similar in size to Australornis.
Australornis was found near the fossils of Waimanu manneringi. Waimanu manneringi is the oldest known fossil penguin. It was found in the same rock layers in Waipara and is believed to be the same age. However, Australornis does not look like a penguin at all. In 2017, a study by Agnolín and his team suggested that Australornis might be an early relative of Anseriformes (like ducks and geese). They grouped it with Polarornis, Neogaeornis, and Vegavis in a family called Vegaviidae.
See also
In Spanish: Australornis lovei para niños
