An Argentine discovery in Antarctica impacts the theory of the evolution of birds

Researchers from the Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA) have announced the discovery of fossil remains of a new genus and a new species of bird of about 65 million years old. 39 years on the island of Marambio, northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
informed the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The discovery was made during the 2007 campaign as part of a project coordinated by the Argentine Antarctic Institute.

After years of preparation and study, the bird found was clbadified in a group similar to the current ducks, geese and swans. The fossil remains correspond to an almost complete skeleton and constitute the most complete account of a bird of the world.

Antarctic

"It would be a flying bird, with long legs, living in an ecosystem of temperate forests.The discovery allows us to badume that the typical form of the current draft duck bill would have appeared early in the evolution of this group of birds, "they said.

It was calling
Antarctic Conflict because of its contradictory systematic position, since its characteristics are different from those of other known birds. His discovery represents a fossil record of a non-marine bird that is very important to the southern hemisphere and the hypothesis developed in the work based on this discovery could form the basis of new theories about the world. evolution of modern birds.

According to the official statement, it is the first skull of a fossil penguin that reaches its peak. This discovery will make significant progress in the evolutionary studies of these birds which are now distributed exclusively in the southern seas.

The project is led by Dr. Marcelo Reguero, from the Argentine Antarctic Institute, and the fieldwork group is composed of Dr. Javier N. Gelfo, Dr. Nicolás Bauzá and Dr. Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche, the Museum of La Plata, Dr. UNLP and CONICET.