Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The scientific name Dromornithidae derives from the Greek words δρομαίος, dromaios ("swift-running") and ὀρνις, ornis ("bird"). [8] The family was named by Max Fürbringer in 1888, citing W. B. Clarke and Gerard Krefft, Owen's separation from "Dromaeus" and Dinornis, and a note by von Haast allying Dromornis with Dromaeus.
Adding to this conundrum are fossilized footprints of bird-like tracks that are 210 million years old—a good 60 million years before the arrival of the genus Archaeopteryx, one of the oldest ...
Bird ichnology is the study of avian life traces in ornithology and paleontology. Such life traces can include footprints, nests, feces and coproliths. Scientists gain insight about the behavior and diversity of birds by studying such evidence. Ichnofossils (or ichnites) are especially important for clarifying the evolution and prehistoric ...
Some moa-nalo fossils have been found to contain traces of mitochondrial DNA which were compared to living duck species in order to establish their place in the duck family, Anatidae. Contrary to the expectations of some scientists, the moa-nalo were not related to the large geese ( Anserinae ), such as the surviving nēnē , but instead to the ...
The common pochard is a plump, medium-sized diving duck, measuring 42–49 cm (17–19 in) in length, with a wingspan of 72–82 cm (28–32 in). [13] [14] [15] It is stocky and short-tailed, with a sloping forehead and relatively long bill. Its weight (which has been reported only for winter birds) ranges from 467 to 1,240 g (16.5 to 43.7 oz).
Just like people have fingerprints, animals leave footprints behind that make it easy to identify what type of animal has been around even if the creature is nowhere in sight.
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which includes over 170 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans. Most modern species in the ...
However, McInerny et al (2024) instead recovered mihirungs as crown-group members of Anseriformes related to modern screamers, while recovering gastornithids as members of the Galliformes, McInerny et al also found weak support for the Sylviornithidae (another enigmatic family of giant birds from Oceania that also went extinct during the Quaternary) potentially being a sister group to ...