Navaornis: a flightless tinamou basal to rheas + ostriches in the LRT
Chiappe et al 2024 report,
“an exquisitely preserved fossil species from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil. The skull of Navaornis is toothless and large-eyed, with a vaulted cranium closely resembling the condition in crown birds; however, phylogenetic analyses recover Navaornis in Enantiornithes, a highly diverse clade of Mesozoic stem birds.”
“Highly diverse” is a term used when some clade members are distinctly different from other clade members. This is a clue that encourages further testing.
Figure 1. µCT scan of the skull of Navaornis from Chiappe et al 2024. Frame 2 is from diagrams in the same publication. Standard DGS colors added here.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-skull588.gif?w=200″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-skull588.gif?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-89747″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-skull588.gif” alt=”Figure 1. µCT scan of the skull of Navaornis from Chiappe et al 2024. Frame 2 is from diagrams in the same publication. Standard DGS colors added here. ” width=”584″ height=”875″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-skull588.gif?w=584&h=875 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-skull588.gif?w=100&h=150 100w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-skull588.gif?w=200&h=300 200w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-skull588.gif 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 1. µCT scan of the skull of Navaornis from Chiappe et al 2024. Frame 2 is from diagrams in the same publication. Standard DGS colors added here.
This fossil was featured several decades ago
in Chiappe et al 1983, in which the authors reported, “Our discovery suggests that these crown bird-like endocranial traits may have originated prior to the split between Enantiornithes and the more crownward portion of avian phylogeny over 140 Ma, while coexisting with a remarkably plesiomorphic cranial base and posterior palate region.”
So Chiappe et al are ‘plowing the same fields’ 41 years later.
Figure 2. Navaornis in situ. Dark gray bones are a second specimen. Reconstruction built from elements in Chiappe et al. Final frame show Gobyipteryx to scale, so there is resemblance.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-insitu-recon588.gif?w=242″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-insitu-recon588.gif?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-89749″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-insitu-recon588.gif” alt=”Figure 2. Navaornis in situ. Dark gray bones are a second specimen. Reconstruction built from elements in Chiappe et al. Final frame show Gobyipteryx to scale, so there is resemblance. ” width=”584″ height=”724″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-insitu-recon588.gif?w=584&h=724 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-insitu-recon588.gif?w=121&h=150 121w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-insitu-recon588.gif?w=242&h=300 242w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis-insitu-recon588.gif 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 2. Navaornis in situ. Dark gray bones are a second specimen. Reconstruction built from elements in Chiappe et al. Final frame show Gobyipteryx to scale, so there is resemblance.
I just ran an analysis.
In the large reptile tree (LRT, 2327 taxa, subset Fig 3) Navaornis (Figs 1, 2) nests at the transition from tinamous to Rheas + Ostriches The small paired sternae mark this as a flightless taxon, “toothless and large-eyed, with a vaulted cranium closely resembling the condition in crown birds.” The tiny lacrimal is not odd, but typical for this grade/clade.
Taxon exclusion may be the issue here, once again.
Figure 2. Adding Navaornis to the LRT nests it here, at the base of the flightless palaeognaths.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.cladogram.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.cladogram.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-89745″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.cladogram.jpg” alt=”Figure 2. Adding Navaornis to the LRT nests it here, at the base of the flightless palaeognaths.” width=”584″ height=”529″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.cladogram.jpg?w=584&h=529 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.cladogram.jpg?w=150&h=136 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.cladogram.jpg?w=300&h=272 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.cladogram.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 3. Adding Navaornis to the LRT nests it here, at the base of the flightless palaeognaths.
The authors nested Navaornis
close to the toothy Cathayornis and broad-billed toothless Gobipteryx. Tinamous and palaeognaths are not present in the authors’ cladogram, but Vegavis is.
Distinctly, in the LRT Cathayornis nests with Avimaia and Sinornis, taxa also not present on the Chiappe et al cladogram.
The LRT minimizes taxon exclusion
so problems like this are less likely to arise.
If you’re a bird expert,
you can cherry-pick the taxa in your taxon list and take your chances.
If you’re not a bird expert,
you should let your wide gamut LRT decide for you where a new taxon nests and thus, which taxa are indeed related.
In other words, don’t hobble an otherwise excellent study by omitting pertinent taxa.
Figure 5. Navaornis on the cover of Nature, looking more like a sparrow than a tinamou.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.coverart588.jpg?w=226″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.coverart588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-89753″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.coverart588.jpg” alt=”Figure 5. Navaornis on the cover of Nature, looking more like a sparrow than a tinamou.” width=”584″ height=”775″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.coverart588.jpg?w=584&h=775 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.coverart588.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.coverart588.jpg?w=226&h=300 226w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/navaornis.coverart588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 5. Navaornis on the cover of Nature, looking more like a sparrow than a tinamou.
Maybe this new nesting
explains why the authors reported twice (41 years apart) how Navaornis looks so much like a crown bird – because it is one.
References
Chiappe LM et al (6 co-authors) 2024. Cretaceous bird from Brazil informs the evolution of the avian skull and brain. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08114-4
Chiappe LM et al (4 co-authors) 1983. Fossil basicranium claried the origin of the avian central nervous system and inner ear. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Science 289.
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2024/11/14/navaornis-a-flightless-tinamou-basal-to-rheas-ostriches-in-the-lrt/
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