The discovery of Argentina could change the theory of evolution in birds

The information was disseminated in a prestigious international scientific journal. According to her, the discovery took place as part of the 2007 campaign as part of a project coordinated by the IAA, in which participated the national universities of Córdoba, La Plata and Conicet.

In this sense, it is stated that after years of preparation and study, the bird found was badigned to a group (Anseriformes) similar to the current ducks, geese and swans. The fossil remains correspond to an almost complete skeleton and constitute the most complete record of a bird in Antarctica.

It would be a flying bird, with elongated legs, living in an ecosystem of temperate forests. The discovery allows us to badume that the typical peak form of the current ducks would have appeared early in the evolution of this group of birds.

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.

Fossils

In addition, as part of a research project also led by the Argentine Antarctic Institute, in collaboration with researchers from the La Plata Museum (National University of La Plata) and CONICET, an important paleontological discovery has was carried out on the island of Marambio (Argentine Antarctic). ): the first skull of a fossil penguin in Antarctica with the full spike. This discovery will make significant progress in the evolutionary studies of these birds which are now distributed exclusively in the southern seas.

Penguins inhabit Marambio Island and its surroundings for at least 60 million years. Since then, they have successfully diversified to sizes ranging from 40 cm to over 2 m in height. The skull, extracted just a few days ago, belongs to one of the largest species of penguins.

This new place in which work is underway is very promising, as it is a little explored area from which terrestrial herbivorous mammals inhabited South America there are 40 millions of years ago, in an area comparable to present-day Andean forests. Patagonien

The project is led by Mr. Marcelo Reguero (Argentine Antarctic Institute) and the field working group is composed of MM. Javier N. Gelfo, Nicolás Bauzá and Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche (La Plata Museum, UNLP – CONICET).