Fossil reveals strange serrated ‘toucan’ that lived alongside dinosaurs

The discovery of a creature described as resembling a “horse-toothed toucan” that lived 68 million years ago has overturned assumptions about the diversity of birds that lived alongside dinosaurs.

At less than nine centimeters (3.5 inches) long, the delicate skull of the bird that scientists have dubbed Falcatakely forsterae could be easily overlooked.

In fact, it almost was, sitting in a backlog of fossils excavated for years before CT scans suggested the specimen deserved more attention.

It turns out that its large, scythe-shaped beak, while resembling the toucan, is something never before seen in the fossil record.

Artist’s reconstruction of Falcatakely forsterae. (Mark Witton)

Birds of the Mesozoic era – between 250 million and 65 million years ago – had “relatively unspecialized snouts,” Patrick O’Connor, lead author of a study on the news, told AFP. creature.

“Falcatakely just completely changed the game, documenting a long, high beak unlike anything known in the Mesozoic,” added O’Connor, professor of anatomy and neuroscience at Ohio University.

The skull, described in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, offered other surprises.

While Falcatakely would have had a face quite familiar with modern birds such as toucans and hornbills, the bones that make up his face bear little resemblance to these modern creatures.

The fossilized skull of Falcatakely forsterae. (O’Connor et al., Nature, 2020)

“Despite a general facial shape similar to modern birds like toucans, the underlying skeleton is much more similar to non-avian theropod dinosaurs like Deinonychus and Velociraptor,” O’Connor said.

This “upsets what we know about the anatomy of Mesozoic birds.”

‘An almost comical profile’

Revealing these characteristics has not been an easy task.

The fossil was originally collected in 2010 in northwestern Madagascar.

When the researchers finally got interested seven years later, they faced a problem: the skull and beak were far too fragile to be removed for examination.

So the team used a form of high-resolution imaging and digital modeling to “virtually dissect” the bones.

They then used 3D printers to reconstruct the skull and compare it with other known species.

What they found was an almost improbable animal, according to Daniel Field, of the University of Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences, who reviewed the study for Nature.

It’s not just the unexpected beak, but the fact that the fossil’s beak has a single preserved tooth, perhaps one of many the bird would have had.

“These features give Falcatakely’s skull an almost comical profile – imagine a creature resembling a small toucan with horse teeth,” Field wrote.

None of the 200 or so species of birds known at the time “have a Falcatakely-like skull,” he added.

For O’Connor, the discovery is proof of the potentially huge gaps that remain in our knowledge of the birds that lived alongside dinosaurs.

“There is a period exceeding 50 million years when we know almost nothing about the history of avian evolution,” he said.

Finding intact bird fossils from the time is relatively rare because their light skeletons were generally too delicate to be well preserved.

The research team, who have been working in the region of Madagascar where Falcatakely has been found since the mid-1990s, are continuing the excavations, and O’Connor is excited about what could be discovered.

He also hopes to explore why Falcatakely had the beak he had.

“Was it related to food processing? Acquiring prey? Was it used as a signal by other members of the species? Many questions remain,” O’Connor said.

© Agence France-Presse