07-23-2019, 06:46 PM
Sesquiavis
This is a species of prehistoric Bird, currently known from only one fossil which was found in Bears Armed five ago, that has now been scientifically described. The type specimen is unfortunately incomplete, which has hindered its more detailed classification.
Discovery
This fossil was uncovered during routine operations at a limestone quarry in the Treur Khrahr’neth hills to the south of Urrath-am-Barrah, in June 2014. Quarrying work was immediately halted so that this item could be studied in situ before its careful removal — along with surrounding material, which included some smaller fossils of other organisms as well — for preservation and analysis at Kings’ University. Professors Arranna RedRose and Mirrach White, both of that establishment, led the project.
Age
This fossil was found in a stratum that is attributed to the earliest stage of the Palaeocene epoch, as it lies just above the thin layer of Iridium-rich clay which is thought to have been deposited due to the ‘K-T Event’ that ended the Mesozoic Era. Several of the other species found with it represented types of organism previously thought to have died out during or even slightly before that ‘Event’, however, which — presuming that that clay layer has indeed been correctly explained — raises the possibility that at least some of these fossils had been re-deposited there after the erosion of even earlier sediments in which they had originally been buried. Thus, the possibility that this bird was actually a resident of the Upper Cretaceous instead cannot be ruled out completely even though such a large bird being already extant alongside the [‘non-Avian’] Dinosaurs would be unprecedented in our current knowledge and seems improbable.
Description (Summary)
The only specimen for this species that has been found so far takes the form of a partially-disarticulated, but mostly complete, skeleton. The limbs are separated from the body, but are basically complete except that the lower half of the right leg (other than its 1st & 2nd toes, detached) is missing. The lower neck is also separated from the body, with the upper neck and all of the head missing.
The species represented by these remains was definitely a true Bird, rather than a [‘non-Avian’] Dinosaur. Certain anatomical features, including its possession of a triangular pygostyle (OOC: the bony structure at the base of a modern bird’s tail) place it clearly within the Ornithurae, although assigning it confidently to any specific family or order is not yet possible: Indeed, the absence of its head makes even certainty about whether it belonged to the Palaeognathae (along with Ostrichs & their kin) or the Neognathae (along with Fowl, Waterfowl, and the Neoaves (OOC: Neoaves = all of the other ‘modern’ birds’]) impossible, and there is therefore even a possibility that it belonged to some even older — and otherwise unknown to us — lineage instead. However, it is sufficiently different anatomically from the previously known Palaeocene species of large birds found in the IDU, belonging to the orders Palaeogalliformes* and Gastornithiformes**, that its having being ancestral to any of those is considered highly improbable.
Even without taking the head and upper neck into account, this bird — as reconstructed from these remains — would have stood around six feet tall. It was clearly flightless, with only rudimentary wings, but its strong legs & feet (with three toes, all pointing forwards, on each foot) would have allowed it a good running speed instead. Its dietary habits cannot be identified without more information about the head and especially the beak… Professor Urrth’hro SilverBear, at National University (at Council Groves) has suggested that some of the smaller fossils of other organisms found in association with these remains were actually there because the living bird had swallowed lumps of limestone already containing them for use as gastroliths (OOC: gastroliths = stones swallowed by a bird or other animal to help grind up tough food in its stomach), which might indicate a diet based on tubers or coarse vegetation, but this seems unlikely bearing in mind the general unsuitability of limestone for such a role.
Naming
The full binominal assigned to this species is Sesquiavis sesquiavis, which translates into English as ‘One-and-a-half-bird one-and-a-half-bird’. Professors Redrose & White acknowledge that this was inspired by one of their crew using the expression “That’s a bird and a half!” when they first saw the fossil clearly, but deny firmly that their repetition of the genus’s name as the specific designation as well was because another person present at that uncovering responded to the original statement with “You can say that again!”
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* Palaeogalliformes is an order endemic to (i.e. native only to) the IDU’s geographical region, almost certainly a sister-group to the more widespread order Galliformes (which includes chickens, pheasants & partridges, grouse, turkeys, and so on…).
** Gastornithiformes was the now-extinct order that included the gigantic birds known today as Gastornis or Diatryma, and was almost certainly quite closely related to the surviving order Anseriformes (which includes the ducks, geese, & swans, as well as some lesser-known groups).
:bear:
This is a species of prehistoric Bird, currently known from only one fossil which was found in Bears Armed five ago, that has now been scientifically described. The type specimen is unfortunately incomplete, which has hindered its more detailed classification.
Discovery
This fossil was uncovered during routine operations at a limestone quarry in the Treur Khrahr’neth hills to the south of Urrath-am-Barrah, in June 2014. Quarrying work was immediately halted so that this item could be studied in situ before its careful removal — along with surrounding material, which included some smaller fossils of other organisms as well — for preservation and analysis at Kings’ University. Professors Arranna RedRose and Mirrach White, both of that establishment, led the project.
Age
This fossil was found in a stratum that is attributed to the earliest stage of the Palaeocene epoch, as it lies just above the thin layer of Iridium-rich clay which is thought to have been deposited due to the ‘K-T Event’ that ended the Mesozoic Era. Several of the other species found with it represented types of organism previously thought to have died out during or even slightly before that ‘Event’, however, which — presuming that that clay layer has indeed been correctly explained — raises the possibility that at least some of these fossils had been re-deposited there after the erosion of even earlier sediments in which they had originally been buried. Thus, the possibility that this bird was actually a resident of the Upper Cretaceous instead cannot be ruled out completely even though such a large bird being already extant alongside the [‘non-Avian’] Dinosaurs would be unprecedented in our current knowledge and seems improbable.
Description (Summary)
The only specimen for this species that has been found so far takes the form of a partially-disarticulated, but mostly complete, skeleton. The limbs are separated from the body, but are basically complete except that the lower half of the right leg (other than its 1st & 2nd toes, detached) is missing. The lower neck is also separated from the body, with the upper neck and all of the head missing.
The species represented by these remains was definitely a true Bird, rather than a [‘non-Avian’] Dinosaur. Certain anatomical features, including its possession of a triangular pygostyle (OOC: the bony structure at the base of a modern bird’s tail) place it clearly within the Ornithurae, although assigning it confidently to any specific family or order is not yet possible: Indeed, the absence of its head makes even certainty about whether it belonged to the Palaeognathae (along with Ostrichs & their kin) or the Neognathae (along with Fowl, Waterfowl, and the Neoaves (OOC: Neoaves = all of the other ‘modern’ birds’]) impossible, and there is therefore even a possibility that it belonged to some even older — and otherwise unknown to us — lineage instead. However, it is sufficiently different anatomically from the previously known Palaeocene species of large birds found in the IDU, belonging to the orders Palaeogalliformes* and Gastornithiformes**, that its having being ancestral to any of those is considered highly improbable.
Even without taking the head and upper neck into account, this bird — as reconstructed from these remains — would have stood around six feet tall. It was clearly flightless, with only rudimentary wings, but its strong legs & feet (with three toes, all pointing forwards, on each foot) would have allowed it a good running speed instead. Its dietary habits cannot be identified without more information about the head and especially the beak… Professor Urrth’hro SilverBear, at National University (at Council Groves) has suggested that some of the smaller fossils of other organisms found in association with these remains were actually there because the living bird had swallowed lumps of limestone already containing them for use as gastroliths (OOC: gastroliths = stones swallowed by a bird or other animal to help grind up tough food in its stomach), which might indicate a diet based on tubers or coarse vegetation, but this seems unlikely bearing in mind the general unsuitability of limestone for such a role.
Naming
The full binominal assigned to this species is Sesquiavis sesquiavis, which translates into English as ‘One-and-a-half-bird one-and-a-half-bird’. Professors Redrose & White acknowledge that this was inspired by one of their crew using the expression “That’s a bird and a half!” when they first saw the fossil clearly, but deny firmly that their repetition of the genus’s name as the specific designation as well was because another person present at that uncovering responded to the original statement with “You can say that again!”
_____________________________________________________________________
* Palaeogalliformes is an order endemic to (i.e. native only to) the IDU’s geographical region, almost certainly a sister-group to the more widespread order Galliformes (which includes chickens, pheasants & partridges, grouse, turkeys, and so on…).
** Gastornithiformes was the now-extinct order that included the gigantic birds known today as Gastornis or Diatryma, and was almost certainly quite closely related to the surviving order Anseriformes (which includes the ducks, geese, & swans, as well as some lesser-known groups).
:bear: