Fossil plant phytoliths from the digestive tract of Jeholornis prima — an extinct species of bird that lived in what is now China during the Early Cretaceous epoch, some 120 million years ago — provides direct evidence that this early bird consumed leaves from a group of flowering plants called magnoliids. The broad diet of Jeholornis prima including at least fruits and leaves marks a clear transition in the early evolution of birds in the establishment of a herbivore niche in the Early Cretaceous occupied largely by birds today.
“Plant phytoliths are composed of opaline silica (silicon dioxide) deposited within and between cells formed by monosillicic acid brought into the plants through the uptake of water,” said senior author Dr. Zhiheng Li from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and colleagues.
“Phytoliths have a long fossil record to near the origin of plants in the Paleozoic, are resistant to dissolution, and are of particular use in paleontological and archaeological disciplines because of their highly diagnostic utility in plant taxonomy.”
“In addition to their archeological use, phytoliths have been used to reconstruct the diet of dinosaurs through analysis of their feces and dentition related residues, providing direct evidence of dinosaur-plant interactions.”
In the study, the paleontologists examined the fossilized skeleton of a subadult Jeholornis prima found near Chaoyang city in western Liaoning province, northeastern China.
“The fossils from the Jehol Biota in China show us that very early in bird evolution they switched from predatory behaviors to using their wings to fly into trees so they could eat the fruits, seeds, and leaves of plants like so many species do today,” Dr. Li said.
“To better understand early bird diets, we searched for the microscopic fossilized remnants of plants within the remains of the ancient stomach contents inside the bird…
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