tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/amber-7148/articlesAmber – The Conversation2021-04-15T16:44:33Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1589252021-04-15T16:44:33Z2021-04-15T16:44:33ZTiny beetle fossil reveals how insects greeted Earth’s earliest flowers<p>The world as we know it today is almost inconceivable without the rich and colourful landscapes created by plant life. Among them are flowering plants, or angiosperms, which are by far the most diverse and abundant group of plants, making up over <a href="http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/welcome.html">80% of all known species</a>, including all our staple food crops. </p>
<p>But the world was not always like this. There was a time <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.15011">when plant life was almost exclusively green</a>. Then, in the time of the dinosaurs, the world burst magnificently into bloom.</p>
<p>Flowers blessed our environment with chromatic vibrancy, but they also upturned food chains and elbowed out their nonflowering predecessors. Little is known about how ecosystems reacted to this sudden blossoming. But now, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-021-00893-2">a tiny beetle</a>, preserved in amber for 99 million years, has provided a valuable clue about how insects first began nourishing themselves on a colourful new platter of plants.</p>
<h2>First flowers</h2>
<p>While there are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-020-01387-8">debates</a> about when exactly angiosperms originated, there is little quarrel that they first became diverse in the Early Cretaceous, around 125 million years ago.</p>
<p>It is believed that the explosive radiation of angiosperms that displaced the gymnosperms – the incumbent, flowerless champions of the plant world – caused <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspb.2008.0715?casa_token=vqXdoSnSjFsAAAAA:1nJMvpV1U-rGBE-xgY2VKqKi6FFz6P_bEaJdcKVPktWF0phWZ_RA295T8BYoAZhzNIBTKSi26gsZN-s">unprecedented upheaval</a> in terrestrial ecosystems, changing the food chain at all levels from the herbivores to their predators. </p>
<p>The largest remaining group of gymnosperms are the conifers, such as pines and cypresses. Many gymnosperms are pollinated by wind, although some produce sugar-containing pollination drops, such as fern-like cycads, which maintain an <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982218308273">ancient relationship with beetles</a>. Flowering angiosperms quickly outcompeted most gymnosperms with their colourful and scented galleries, which advertised their nectar to attract pollinators.</p>
<p>Yet we know very little about the life of the earliest angiosperms. Most Cretaceous flowers have been recovered from burnt remains converted to charcoal, making reconstructions of how they looked a rare and difficult task. Scientists have also studied <a href="https://theconversation.com/revealed-the-first-ever-flower-140m-years-ago-looked-like-a-magnolia-81861">living angiosperms</a> to try to reconstruct what the world’s first flower might have looked like.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/revealed-the-first-ever-flower-140m-years-ago-looked-like-a-magnolia-81861">Revealed: the first ever flower, 140m years ago, looked like a magnolia</a>
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<p>The pollinators of these early flowers have remained shrouded in a further layer of mystery. Today, over <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14691">80% of angiosperms</a> depend on insects, such as bees and day-flying butterflies, to pollinate them. But these groups were either not present or not diverse in the Cretaceous. So who were the earliest pollinators of angiosperms?</p>
<h2>Jurassic pollinators</h2>
<p>Many insects had mutualistic associations with plants before the Cretaceous. Some <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/326/5954/840.editor-summary">Jurassic scorpionflies</a> possessed elongated mouth parts ideally suited for pollinating gymnosperms. And fortuitous fossils from Early Cretaceous amber in Spain have also revealed <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/109/22/8623">thrips</a> – small, slender insects – associated with the pollen of gymnosperms.</p>
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<img alt="A yellow-bellied insect with wings and a scorpion's tail" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395240/original/file-20210415-21-15jjs5i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395240/original/file-20210415-21-15jjs5i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395240/original/file-20210415-21-15jjs5i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395240/original/file-20210415-21-15jjs5i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395240/original/file-20210415-21-15jjs5i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395240/original/file-20210415-21-15jjs5i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395240/original/file-20210415-21-15jjs5i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Today’s common scorpionfly is descended from similar insects that lived over 100 million years ago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/common-scorpionfly-panorpa-communis-rudbeckia-black-1396527422">Dirk Daniel Mann/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>But what of the relationship between the earliest angiosperms and their insect pollinators? In palaeontology, exceptional questions call for exceptional fossils, and it’s amber that often provides them. Amber is the resin of ancient trees that fossilised over millions of years and preserved its content with life-like fidelity. </p>
<p>Bits of insects and plants trapped inside provide an unparalleled window into ancient ecosystems. Scientists have amassed a unique collection of over 20,000 amber pieces from northern Myanmar, found in 2016. This amber dates to around 99 million years ago, during the golden age of angiosperm diversification, and preserves diverse insects, plants and even <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12089">occasional dinosaur remains</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-lizard-found-preserved-in-99-million-year-old-amber-133363">Ancient lizard found preserved in 99-million-year-old amber</a>
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<p>As palaeontologists working with amber, we have to sort out individual pieces, identify their content, and carefully carve them down to give a clear view of the fossil inside, sometimes down to the thickness of a microscope slide. In this Jurassic Park-like adventure, work has to be done slowly, with surgical precision.</p>
<p>Laborious work on the amber soon started to bear fruits. In late 2019, the amber from northern Myanmar yielded a tumbling flower beetle (<em>Mordellidae</em>) with numerous <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/116/49/24707">angiosperm pollen grains</a> attached to its body. This was followed by the discovery of short-winged flower beetles associated with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004220300973">eudicot pollen</a> similar to that produced by water lilies – an early diverging group of angiosperms. Further discoveries included <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-019-0652-7">an ancient wasp</a>, also associated with angiosperm pollen.</p>
<h2>Last supper</h2>
<p>Our study focused on a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-021-00893-2">short-winged flower beetle</a>,
or <em>Pelretes vivificus</em>, as the new fossil was named. It’s just over one millimetre in length: a lone speck in the clear orange amber.</p>
<p>But when we looked closer, we discovered that the beetle is associated with clusters of pollen grains: some attached directly to its body, others preserved in fossilised faecal pellets (coprolites). The coprolites are evidence of the beetle’s last meal, providing a unique line of evidence that demonstrates that the beetles indeed fed on pollen and that the two were not just preserved together by chance.</p>
<p>To identify the pollen, we used a selection of high-tech microscopes. The pollen turned out to be the fossil genus <em>Tricolpopollenites</em>. This group is attributed to the eudicots – a living group of angiosperms that includes willows, violets and coca plants. This makes <em>Pelretes</em> one of the earliest pollinators of angiosperms in the fossil record – and the earliest beetle with direct evidence of pollen feeding.</p>
<p>This tiny beetle has shown that soon after their rise to prominence, some of the earliest flowering plants already had their pollen feasted upon by insects. We now know that the association between flower beetles and angiosperms is truly ancient: unbroken for at least 99 million years when the world was erupting with colourful flowers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158925/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chenyang Cai does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Preserved in amber, a tiny beetle has shed light on the moment the world first burst into bloom.Chenyang Cai, Research Fellow, School of Earth Sciences, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1333632020-03-11T16:38:58Z2020-03-11T16:38:58ZAncient lizard found preserved in 99-million-year-old amber<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325343/original/file-20200403-74212-1o1dpe8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1200%2C790&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The fossil in amber.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lida Xing</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The head of a tiny lizard that is hardly bigger than a bee hummingbird has been <a href="https://nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2068-4">discovered</a> in 99-million-year-old amber.</p>
<p>The piece of polished amber, just 31mm by 20mm by 8.5mm, was found in Kachin Province of northern Myanmar, an area becoming increasingly well-known for its remarkable amber-encased fossils.</p>
<p>This exciting little fossil creature is named <em>Oculudentavis khaungraae</em>, and is from the middle of the Cretaceous period, from a stage known as the Cenomanian. The skull looks remarkably bird-like and a number of features suggested that <em>Oculudentavis</em> might actually be related to the early ancestors of modern birds. </p>
<p>That would make this fossil the smallest dinosaur ever discovered, and for a time <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2068-4">this was what researchers thought</a>, but a closer look revealed that it was actually probably a lizard. Among other details, <em>Oculudentavis</em> appeared to possess teeth that were fused to the jaw bone, whereas dinosaur teeth sit in bony sockets. The fossil appears to have preserved some of the lizard’s original bodily material, allowing another team of scientists to <a href="http://ivpp.cas.cn/kxcb/kpdt/202003/t20200313_5514594.html">spot the error and issue a correction</a>. </p>
<p>The researchers from China and the US who studied the fossil subjected it to CT analysis (computed tomography, which uses X-rays to produce a series of cross-section images of a specimen) to examine the internal structure. But the amber is sufficiently clear that many of the features can be seen with the naked eye and a hand lens.</p>
<p><em>Oculudentavis</em> has a long slender snout, a mouthful of needle-sharp teeth and massive eyes. Unlike most fossils, in which the original material is replaced by other minerals, the skull still appears to be composed of actual bone, although its microstructure and possible cell content have yet to be analysed.</p>
<p>Some of the skin of the palate and the tongue is also preserved, including the small pointed papillae on its surface. These may have worked in the same way as modern passerine birds such as the robin, whose <a href="https://goldengateaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/Avian-Tongues_Johnston.pdf">tongue bumps</a> are directed backwards and prevent prey escaping from the mouth.</p>
<p>Sadly the rest of the animal’s body is not preserved – some of the organic material decayed to produce what is now a yucky mess. Perhaps it exists in another amber fragment awaiting discovery.</p>
<p>One particularly revealing feature is the skull’s huge orbit (eye socket). A circle of tiny bony plates known as a sclerotic ring is arranged within the orbit, forming a cone with an inner circle that indicates the creature would have had a very small pupil. This kind of eye is typical of many lizards of today that are active during the day and sleep at night, suggesting that <em>Oculudentavis</em> had a similar “diurnal” schedule.</p>
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<h2>Significant find</h2>
<p>The discovery of <em>Oculudentavis</em> is all the more fascinating because it was found in amber. Almost all fossils are formed from the hard remains of animals and plants: bones, teeth, shells and wood. But the amber has preserved some of the soft tissues of the lizard, making it a very unlikely fossil.</p>
<p>Amber starts off as a sticky liquid resin oozing from wounds on trees. But as volatile chemicals evaporate from its surface, the resin hardens into lumps that take some hammering to remove from the tree. This means it is even more unlikely that such an ancient creature would get preserved in amber. The largest piece of amber ever discovered weighs a <a href="http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat51/sub324/item1229.html">mere 15kg</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319884/original/file-20200311-168321-1xu332z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319884/original/file-20200311-168321-1xu332z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319884/original/file-20200311-168321-1xu332z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319884/original/file-20200311-168321-1xu332z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319884/original/file-20200311-168321-1xu332z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319884/original/file-20200311-168321-1xu332z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319884/original/file-20200311-168321-1xu332z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A CT scan of the skull of <em>Oculudentavis</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Li Gang</span></span>
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<p>The fossilised remains of <em>Oculudentavis</em> will be rich in all sorts of chemical decay products that can often be traced back to original biomolecules. Unfortunately it is doubtful that any DNA remains. DNA is such a delicate molecule that it <a href="https://theconversation.com/has-dinosaur-dna-been-found-an-expert-explains-what-we-really-know-133017">rarely survives</a> more than a few thousand years in humans, perhaps as much as 17,000 years in other animals and just maybe around a million years in <a href="https://theconversation.com/dinosaur-bones-hidden-life-revealed-inside-them-120536">fossilised bacteria</a>.</p>
<p><em>Oculudentavis</em> isn’t the first creature to be found in amber. In 2016, <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)31193-9">researchers reported</a> a piece of amber also from Myanmar with the tail of feathered dinosaur.</p>
<p><em>Oculudentavis</em> may not have turned out to be a mini dinosaur, but it’s still an amazing discovery. And who knows, one day we might yet find more dinosaur fragments in amber.</p>
<p><em>This article was amended on March 26 to correct errors following the <a href="http://ivpp.cas.cn/kxcb/kpdt/202003/t20200313_5514594.html">misidentification</a> of Oculudentavis as a dinosaur.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133363/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Martill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The fossil includes the tiny creature’s original bone and flesh.David Martill, Professor of Palaeobiology, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1329492020-03-11T16:05:27Z2020-03-11T16:05:27ZAncient bird skull found in amber was tiny predator in the time of giant dinosaurs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319220/original/file-20200309-58017-occdel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Amber holds the secret to the tiny world of the age of dinosaurs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Xing Lida</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: This article was based on a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature on March 11, 2020. On July 22, 2020, the journal retracted the article after other researchers raised concerns that the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02214-7">skull belonged to a lizard, not a bird</a>. Here is the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2553-9">retraction note</a> from the paper’s authors</em>:</p>
<p><em>We, the authors, are retracting this Article to prevent inaccurate information from remaining in the literature. Although the description of Oculudentavis khaungraae remains accurate, a new unpublished specimen casts doubts upon our hypothesis regarding the phylogenetic position of HPG-15-3.</em></p>
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<p>In 2016, our colleague Xing Lida held up a small piece of polished, deeply yellow amber. As sunlight shone through the ancient resin, Lida saw the outline of a pristinely preserved, amazingly small skull. There was a prominent eye socket, a dome-shaped crown of the head, a long, tapering snout and even small teeth. It was bird-like, but in a strange and ancient way.</p>
<p>The amber contains the skull of <em>Oculudentavis khaungraae</em>, a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2068-4">newly described dinosaur</a> and one of the smallest ever discovered. Its tiny stature is forcing paleontologists to rethink the lower limits of body size in birds, and the nearly 100-million-year-old fossil is challenging the current understanding of when and how dinosaur giants shrank into the birds of today.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319728/original/file-20200310-61066-1ccn5yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319728/original/file-20200310-61066-1ccn5yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319728/original/file-20200310-61066-1ccn5yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319728/original/file-20200310-61066-1ccn5yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319728/original/file-20200310-61066-1ccn5yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319728/original/file-20200310-61066-1ccn5yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319728/original/file-20200310-61066-1ccn5yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319728/original/file-20200310-61066-1ccn5yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The piece of amber measures only 1.25 inches (31.5 millimeters) in length. The skull is a mere 0.6 inches (11 millimeters).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Xing Lida</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<h2>A mysterious transformation</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/take-a-t-rex-and-a-chicken-and-youll-see-how-dinosaurs-shrank-survived-and-evolved-into-birds-29996">evolutionary transition of dinosaurs to modern birds</a> is one of the most astounding transformations in the history of life: large, bipedal and mostly carnivorous dinosaurs morphed into small, flying birds. Famous discoveries like <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-discovered-a-new-species-of-the-missing-link-between-dinosaurs-and-birds-102363">Archaeopteryx</a></em> and more recently the fossils from the <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/birds-stone">Jehol Biota in China</a> have given researchers some hints about the process. But finds from this <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-birds-evolved-from-dinosaurs-20150602">evolutionary phase</a> – which researchers think began about 200 million years ago – are rare.</p>
<p>Paleontologists are far from having a complete picture of the evolution of birds, and even farther from a full inventory of Earth’s ecosystems in the age of dinosaurs. Our research on the tiny <em>Oculudentavis</em>, published in the journal Nature, adds valuable information to the puzzle of when, how and to what extent dinosaurs shrank.</p>
<h2>Clues in bone</h2>
<p>Our team needed to see the minute details of the skull, and we needed to do it without cracking or ruining the specimen - a difficult task with a skull encased in 99-million-year old amber from Myanmar. To do that, we scanned the skull with high-resolution X-rays and created a digital model with very fine anatomical detail. What emerged was a picture of an overall bird-like anatomy. But in some interesting ways, <em>Oculudentavis</em> is unlike any bird or dinosaur that has ever been found.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319218/original/file-20200309-118951-1umgcvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319218/original/file-20200309-118951-1umgcvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319218/original/file-20200309-118951-1umgcvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319218/original/file-20200309-118951-1umgcvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319218/original/file-20200309-118951-1umgcvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319218/original/file-20200309-118951-1umgcvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319218/original/file-20200309-118951-1umgcvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319218/original/file-20200309-118951-1umgcvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This high-resolution scan allowed us to see the intricacies of a bone structure unlike any before seen in birds or dinosaurs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Xing Lida</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The obvious curiosity of the fossil is its size: <em>Oculudentavis</em> rivaled the smallest bird living today, the bee hummingbird, and likely was no more than 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) from beak to tail. We considered whether the skull possibly belonged to a very young animal, but the extent and pattern of bone growth and the proportional size of the eye pointed to a mature bird.</p>
<p>With a total skull length of just about 0.6 inches (1.5 centimeters), <em>Oculudentavis</em> pushes against what is considered the lower limit of size in birds: the head still had to hold functional eyes, a brain and jaws. The small size is especially surprising if one considers that <em>Oculudentavis</em> lived during the same time as <a href="https://svpow.com/2017/08/09/dont-believe-the-hype-patagotitan-was-not-bigger-than-argentinosaurus/">giant plant-eating dinosaurs like <em>Argentinosaurus</em></a>.</p>
<h2>Small and specialized</h2>
<p>The small size of <em>Oculudentavis</em> is striking, but to a trained eye there are other extremely unusual features, too.</p>
<p>First of all, the skull seems to be built for strength. The bones show an unusual pattern of fusion and the skull lacks an antorbital fenestra, a small hole often found in front of the eye.</p>
<p>The eyes of <em>Oculudentavis</em> also surprised us. The shape of the bones found within the eye, the scleral ossicles, suggests that it probably had conical eyes with small pupils. This type of eye structure is especially well adapted for moving around in bright light. While daytime activity might be expected for an <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2011/04/14/dinosaurs-around-the-clock-or-how-we-know-velociraptor-hunted-by-night/">ancient bird from the age of dinosaurs</a>, the shape of the ossicles is entirely distinct from any other dinosaur and resembles those of modern-day lizards.</p>
<p>Adding to the list of unexpected features, the upper jaw carries at least 23 small teeth. These teeth extend all the way back beneath the eye and are not set in deep pockets, an unusual arrangement for most ancient birds. The large number of teeth and their sharp cutting edges suggest that <em>Oculudentavis</em> was a predator that may have fed on small bugs.</p>
<p>The sum of these traits – a strong skull, good eyesight and a hunter’s set of teeth – suggests to us that <em>Oculudentavis</em> led a life previously unknown among ancient birds: it was a hummingbird-sized daytime predator.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319731/original/file-20200310-61076-1p3vudc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319731/original/file-20200310-61076-1p3vudc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319731/original/file-20200310-61076-1p3vudc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319731/original/file-20200310-61076-1p3vudc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319731/original/file-20200310-61076-1p3vudc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319731/original/file-20200310-61076-1p3vudc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319731/original/file-20200310-61076-1p3vudc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319731/original/file-20200310-61076-1p3vudc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tiny <em>Oculudentavis</em> may have occupied a unique ecological niche in the ancient world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Han Zhixin</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>One of the earliest and tiniest birds?</h2>
<p>Placing <em>Oculudentavis</em> in the tree of life is, given its strange anatomy, challenging. Our phylogenetic analysis – the investigation of its relationships to other dinosaurs – identifies <em>Oculudentavis</em> as one of the most ancient birds. Only <em>Archaeopteryx</em> branched off earlier. </p>
<p>Scientists consider the nectar-feeding hummingbirds – <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/ancient-hummingbirds-in-surprising-places/">which appeared 30 million years ago</a> – the smallest dinosaurs on record. But if our placement of <em>Oculudentavis</em> holds true, the miniaturization of dinosaurs may have peaked far earlier than paleontologists previously thought. In fact, the largest and the smallest dinosaurs may have walked and flown the same earth nearly 100 million years ago.</p>
<p>Our work demonstrates how little scientists know about the little things in the history of life. Scientists’ snapshot of fossil ecosystems in the dinosaur age is incomplete and leaves so many questions unanswered. But paleontologists are eager to take on these questions. What other tiny species were out there? What was their ecological function? Was <em>Oculudentavis</em> the only visually guided bug hunter? To better understand the evolution of the diversity of life we need more emphasis and recognition of the small.</p>
<p>Amber holds strong potential to fill that gap. Maybe one day a scientist will hold up another piece, and let sunshine reveal a complete <em>Oculudentavis</em>, or even a previously unknown species. More finds in amber will help illuminate the world of the tiny vertebrates in the age of dinosaurs.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132949/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The skull of Oculudentavis, found encased in amber, provides new clues into the transition from dinosaurs to birds and may be smallest of either ever found.Lars Schmitz, Associate Professor of Biology, Scripps CollegeJingmai Kathleen O'Connor, Senior Professor of Paleontology, Chinese Academy of SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1162682019-05-01T20:17:50Z2019-05-01T20:17:50ZPsst… wanna buy a necklace? Humans have been faking jewellery for thousands of years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271883/original/file-20190501-136794-lxrvl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Amber held high value in past human cultures, and it may have been lucrative to create fake beads for trade. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/various-polish-amber-necklases-hanging-exhibition-60938635?src=fvSlnuXG6UGKvANRa7MoWA-1-50">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Making fake jewels isn’t a modern phenomenon – it’s a human behaviour that dates back thousands of years.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">New research</a> published today suggests that traders 2,000 years ago were producing imitation amber beads, coating them with pine tree resin to make them appear to be the real deal. </p>
<p>Six beads found in two Bronze Age (around 3-2,000-years-ago) burial sites – La Molina and Cova del Gegant, both located in Spain – were not what they seemed to be. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271877/original/file-20190430-136781-yp9qc7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271877/original/file-20190430-136781-yp9qc7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271877/original/file-20190430-136781-yp9qc7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271877/original/file-20190430-136781-yp9qc7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271877/original/file-20190430-136781-yp9qc7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271877/original/file-20190430-136781-yp9qc7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271877/original/file-20190430-136781-yp9qc7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The new research shows that beads were coated in pine resin to make them look like higher value amber.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0215469">Odriozola et al., 2019</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>High-tech analysis of the beads found that people had carved the beads from shell and seeds before coating them in layers of gold-coloured resin from a pine tree. This resin coating would have made them appear to be legitimate amber beads. </p>
<p>Amber was relatively rare and of high value at the time. While appreciated as a decorative stone, amber is actually the fossilised resin of coniferous trees – which is why we sometimes find <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaenamontanari/2015/08/13/the-six-most-incredible-fossils-preserved-in-amber/#2ef949876646">insects and other small things preserved within it</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-bling-makes-us-human-101094">How 'bling' makes us human</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A history of fakes</h2>
<p>As astonishing as this 2,000 to 3,000-year-old Spanish scam might seem, the manufacture of imitation jewels is actually much older. </p>
<p>The earliest examples go all the way back to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aurignacian-culture">Aurignacian culture</a>, some 43,000 to 37,000-years-ago. At this time, the first modern humans (<em>Homo sapiens</em>) were moving into Western Europe and had very particular aesthetic tastes. These tastes revolved around <a href="http://hesp.irmacs.sfu.ca/sites/hesp.irmacs.sfu.ca/files/vanhaeren__derrico_2006_-_aurignacian_ethno-linguistic_geography.pdf">shiny white seashells and animal teeth</a> which were made into necklaces and sewn onto clothing. </p>
<p>In some cases, getting a hold of seashells wasn’t easy. If you lived inland you had to either travel there (a trek of hundreds or even thousands of kilometres) and collect them yourself or trade for them with someone who had – which made them rare, and therefore, expensive. </p>
<p>Some wouldn’t have had the resources to get these sought after shell and teeth beads – but they still wanted the look, so replicas were made out of common local raw materials.</p>
<p>We know this because archaeologists have found <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.an.21.100192.002541">replica seashells</a> as well as red deer, fox and horse teeth carefully carved out of mammoth ivory and soft white stone at a number of sites throughout Europe and the Near East. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271701/original/file-20190430-136813-qdmgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271701/original/file-20190430-136813-qdmgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271701/original/file-20190430-136813-qdmgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271701/original/file-20190430-136813-qdmgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271701/original/file-20190430-136813-qdmgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271701/original/file-20190430-136813-qdmgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271701/original/file-20190430-136813-qdmgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271701/original/file-20190430-136813-qdmgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Palaeolithic forgery: a 37-35,000-year-old imitation marine shell bead made in mammoth ivory from the Aurignacian site of Abri Castanet (France).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://journals.openedition.org/palethnologie/768">R. White</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Manufacturing imitation beads became a widespread practice over the following 20,000 or so years, with rare or exotic jewellery items copied in shape and colour in numerous <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alice_Choyke/publication/325813572_Late_Neolithic_Red_Deer_Canine_Beads_and_Their_Imitations/links/5b26d877458515270fd5a6c2/Late-Neolithic-Red-Deer-Canine-Beads-and-Their-Imitations.pdf">prehistoric</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/sic.2002.47.3.175">later</a> cultures around the globe. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ice-age-art-and-jewellery-found-in-an-indonesian-cave-reveal-an-ancient-symbolic-culture-75390">Ice age art and 'jewellery' found in an Indonesian cave reveal an ancient symbolic culture</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>There’s something about amber</h2>
<p>People have loved amber for a long time.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/palethnologie/789">earliest beads</a> in this warm, honey-coloured material date back to the arrival of modern humans into Europe (that is, around 40,000 years ago). </p>
<p>And it’s not just beads we have used amber for – but also artworks. One particularly gorgeous example is a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/14-000yearold-amber-elk-and-the-origins-of-northern-european-art/A0A975DBDAAD7578CBF777D1673E7D38">14,000-year-old carving of a female elk </a> found in a Federmessergroupen (Epi-Palaeolithic) site in northern Germany. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ancient.eu/Amber/">Written records surviving from the ancient Romans and Greeks</a> discuss the various theories peoples across Europe had for the origin of this mysterious golden material – ranging from the tears of goddesses, tears of birds, fallen drops of sunlight, and even the urine of a Lynx!</p>
<p>Also surviving are accounts of how these ancient peoples believed that amber had a medicinal or magical quality which protected and helped heal the human body. This belief is something that has survived into the modern era – most recently in the trend to adorn infants with amber beaded necklaces to treat the pain of teething. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271889/original/file-20190501-136807-xxu5pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271889/original/file-20190501-136807-xxu5pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271889/original/file-20190501-136807-xxu5pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271889/original/file-20190501-136807-xxu5pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271889/original/file-20190501-136807-xxu5pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271889/original/file-20190501-136807-xxu5pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271889/original/file-20190501-136807-xxu5pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It is a common sight in Australia – and elsewhere – to see teething infants wearing amber necklaces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sweet-smiling-baby-girl-amber-necklace-612397382?src=fvSlnuXG6UGKvANRa7MoWA-1-28">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the effectiveness of amber to treat pain, inflammation, or ability to protect you from harm is debated – its beauty remains undisputed and will no doubt continue to support its popularity worldwide.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116268/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Langley is a DECRA Research Fellow at the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University. She receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Archaeologists have uncovered a 2,000-year-old amber bead scam. But humans have been making fake jewels and icons for much longer than that.Michelle Langley, ARC DECRA Research Fellow, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/617732016-06-29T09:48:53Z2016-06-29T09:48:53ZTiny wings trapped in amber 99 million years ago reveal new secrets of earliest birds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128559/original/image-20160628-7832-evjbo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Royal Saskatchewan Museum/RC McKellar</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fossilised amber is like a time capsule, a snapshot into a world millions of years old, and ancient creatures discovered in this amber give us fascinating insights into the past. </p>
<p>The amber deposits of north-east Myanmar (Burma) have become famous for thousands of fossils that preserve an astonishing array of plants, insects, spiders, scorpions and lizards from the Cretaceous period that were unfortunate enough to become trapped in the sticky sap of ancient trees – sap which over millions of years becomes amber. Rarely, collectors have found isolated feathers, and even more rarely parts of ancient birds. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128555/original/image-20160628-7840-uahzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128555/original/image-20160628-7840-uahzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128555/original/image-20160628-7840-uahzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128555/original/image-20160628-7840-uahzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128555/original/image-20160628-7840-uahzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128555/original/image-20160628-7840-uahzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128555/original/image-20160628-7840-uahzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128555/original/image-20160628-7840-uahzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fossils of the early bird <em>Confuciusornis sanctus</em> from the Jehol group.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Confuciusornis_sanctus.jpg">Edward Sola</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Xing Lida from the China University of Geosciences in Beijing, together with a large team including myself, are among those to make such a rare discovery: two tiny fossil wings preserved complete with feathers, as detailed <a href="http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/ncomms12089">in a paper</a> published in Nature Communications.</p>
<p>Unlike the even more famous <a href="http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/melanosomes/jehol.html">fossil birds from the Jehol Group</a> of north-east China that are preserved only as imprints in stone, these Burmese fossils are three-dimensional, the first ever discovery of not only the bony skeleton of the wing, but also the feathers in their original arrangement and even the underlying skin.</p>
<p>The two wing fragments from two juveniles of the earliest types of birds are each only around one centimetre long, but following CT scanning the bones are clearly visible. Attached to the back of the ulna and metacarpals – the bones that would in a human be the forearm and fingers – are nine primary and five secondary flight feathers, evenly spaced, and in their original positions. These feathers are asymmetrical, with a vane (the feather’s body) of unequal size to either side of the quill, the feather’s central shaft. This asymmetry is usually interpreted as evidence that the feathers were used in flight.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128562/original/image-20160628-7825-s2wqdc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128562/original/image-20160628-7825-s2wqdc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128562/original/image-20160628-7825-s2wqdc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128562/original/image-20160628-7825-s2wqdc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128562/original/image-20160628-7825-s2wqdc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128562/original/image-20160628-7825-s2wqdc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128562/original/image-20160628-7825-s2wqdc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128562/original/image-20160628-7825-s2wqdc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Close-up of the wing showing the feathers’ barbs and barbules.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Royal Saskatchewan Museum/RC McKellar</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Just as with feathers from modern birds, when examined in detail the feathers reveal barbs – the ridged formations on a bird’s feathers – and barbules – tiny hooks on the barbs – that allow the separate feathers to “zip” closely together to form a continuous flight surface so the bird can fly. It also enables ruffled feathers to be preened and smoothed back into shape. There are even visible traces of plumage colour – light and dark patches – but it’s impossible to explore the chemistry and potential original colours while the feathers are entirely encased in amber.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128563/original/image-20160628-7851-dsttr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128563/original/image-20160628-7851-dsttr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128563/original/image-20160628-7851-dsttr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128563/original/image-20160628-7851-dsttr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128563/original/image-20160628-7851-dsttr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128563/original/image-20160628-7851-dsttr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128563/original/image-20160628-7851-dsttr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ultraviolet light reveals the direction of flow of the amber.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Royal Saskatchewan Museum/RC McKellar</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The anatomy of the bones shows that both specimens belong to enantiornithines, a group of birds that dominated the skies in the Cretaceous period, but died out during the same great mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs 66m years ago. These are early birds, so they still had three fully-formed fingers with claws, like their dinosaurian ancestors, that could grasp branches in order to climb trees. In comparison, modern birds retain the three fingers, but they cannot grasp and have lost the claws.</p>
<p>The specimens also tell us something of the moment these birds met their fate: small scratch marks visible in the amber suggest one of the little birds was scrabbling to free itself. The fact that only one wing is preserved in each case perhaps tells us something too: we can assume these tiny birds, each with stumpy wings that are little larger than a man’s thumbnail, were clambering about on tree branches perhaps in search of insects or fruit to eat. They blundered into the tree sap and their feathers became entangled. The more they struggled, the more their feathers became stuck, and as the amber hardened they could not escape. The rest of their bodies decayed and fell away, leaving just two pristine little wings preserved forever.</p>
<p>Apart from this vivid vignette of life and death 99m years ago, these wings offer the hope of more such discoveries. When the Jehol birds were found in China in the 1990s, they revolutionised our understanding of the early history of birds. The chance of finding feathers and soft tissues from these times means palaeontologists can flesh out more details in their understanding of the earliest birds. This is important: birds today are one of the most successful groups of animals with 10,000 species. In terms of biodiversity and conservation of these species, we need to know why they are so successful.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61773/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Benton receives funding from NERC and the Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p>For the first time, feathers, bone and skin of the earliest birds have been found, trapped in amber.Michael J. Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.