Overview of HPG-15-1 in right lateral view. (From Xing et al., 2017)
Amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar, called Burmese amber, has been commercially exploited for millennia. Of the seven major deposits of amber from the Cretaceous Period, Burmese amber has probably the most diverse paleobiota, including the tail of a non-avian coelurosaurian theropod, and three juvenile enantiornithine birds. The third specimen, HPG-15-1, is the most complete fossil bird discovered in Burmese amber. It comes from the Angbamo site, and measures approximately 86 mm x 30 mm x 57 mm, and weighs 78 g. It was encapsulated during the earliest stages of its feather production, and plumage preserves an unusual combination of precocial and altricial features unlike any living hatchling bird.
Details of the head in HPG-15-1. A, x-ray µCT reconstruction in left lateral view (From Xing et al., 2017)
The skull was split when the amber was cut. The rostrum is preserved in one section and the neck and most of the braincase in the other. The skull is mesorostrine. A single tooth is visible in the left premaxilla. As in Early Cretaceous enantiornithines, the premaxillary corpus is short, forming approximately one-third of the rostrum. The exoccipitals contributed to the dorsal portion of the condyle and were unfused at the time of death. The frontals articulate for most of their length with a small gap between their rostral ends as in Archaeopteryx. The inner ear and its semicircular canals are preserved. There are at least six articulated cervical vertebrae, including the atlas and axis, preserved in articulation with the skull. The post-axial vertebrae are rectangular with large neural canals, low and caudally displaced neural spines, and a ventral keel as in many enantiornithines. The articulated skull and series of cervical vertebrae bear plumage in dense fields. The individual feathers are dark brown in color, and appear to consist of tufts of four or more barbs. Skin is preserved as a translucent film in unfeathered regions of both the head and neck.
Microstructure and pigmentation of feathers on wing and body of HPG-15-1. Scale bars equal 1 mm in (A, C); 0.5 mm in (B, D). From Xing et al., 2017
The new specimen also preserves a partial distal wing, the distal right tibiotarsus and complete right foot as well as part of the left pes. Both skeletal material and integumentary structures from the wing’s apex are well-preserved. The plumage consists of fragments of some of the primaries, and alula feathers, some of the secondaries and coverts, and traces of contours from the wing base. The hind limbs preserve feathers and traces of skin. The absence of fusion between the tarsals indicates that the specimen is ontogenetically immature. The proportions of the pedal digits suggest an arboreal lifestyle. Plumage within the femoral and crural tracts consists of neoptile feathers with a short or absent rachis. These feathers are nearly transparent, suggesting that they were pale or white. The skin beneath the crural tract is thin and smooth. The tip of the tail clearly preserves the remains of a single large sheathed rectrix.
The slow post-natal growth results in a protracted period of vulnerability, which is reflected in the Enantiornithes by the large number of juveniles found in the fossil record, whereas young juveniles of other Cretaceous bird lineages are unknown.
References:
Lida Xing, Jingmai K. O’Connor, Ryan C. McKellar, Luis M. Chiappe, Kuowei Tseng, Gang Li, Ming Bai , A mid-Cretaceous enantiornithine (Aves) hatchling preserved in Burmese amber with unusual plumage, (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2017.06.001
Letters from Gondwana. 