About the Book
This book consists of articles from Wikia. Pages: 54. Chapters: Basal Ornithurae, Birds by classification, Bird anatomy, Cretaceous birds, Feathers, Flightless birds, Late Quaternary prehistoric birds, Miocene birds, Neognathae, Oligocene birds, Prehistoric birds of North America, Prehistoric birds of South America, Gallornis, Protoavis, Flight feather, Furcula, Jugal, Keel, Pennaceous feather, Pygostyle, Quill knob, Bird, Bird ichnology, Enantiornithes, Evolution of birds, Feather, Hesperornis, List of fossil birds, Neornithes, Origin of avian flight, Origin of birds, Ornithurae, Paraptenodytes, Pelagornithidae, Protobird, Sandcoleiformes, Temporal paradox, Vultur, Odontornithes, Avisaurus, Confuciusornis, Dalianraptor, Enantiornis, Gallornis, Ichthyornis, Neuquenornis, Patagopteryx, Potamornis, Sapeornis, Soroavisaurus, Yanornis, Feather, Flight feather, Pennaceous feather, Quill knob, Potamornis, Barbados Rail, Diomedeoididae, Diomedeoididae, Amitabha, Avisaurus, Ichthyornis. Excerpt: Gallornis is a genus of prehistoric bird from the Cretaceous. It is of fairly indeterminate age and extremely fragmentary. Yet it provides a tantalizing glimpse at an apparently crucial point in avian evolution. The single known species Gallornis straeleni lived near today's Auxerre in Yonne departement (France); it has been dated very tentatively to the Berriasian-Hauterivian stages, that is about 140-130 million years ago.. The material consists of "a very worn proximal end of a femur and a humerus fragment"This is a highly significant taxon for theories about the evolution of birds, less well-known but certainly equal in importance to the famous Archaeopteryx. Unfortunately, it is not known from much or well-preserved material. What can be said is that the remains show features only known from the Neornithes - the group of birds that exists today. Thus, Gallornis demonstrates that as early as about 130 million years ago or more the ancestors of all living birds might already...
