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The first Cretaceous bird from Madagascar

Nature volume 382, pages 532–534 (1996)Cite this article

Abstract

WE report the discovery of two exquisitely preserved specimens of a new, very primitive bird from the Late Cretaceous period of Madagascar. The new taxon, Vorona berivotrensis, is provisionally placed phylogenetically in an unresolved trichotomy with Enantiornithes and a clade consisting of Patagopteryx and Ornithurae. These specimens are the first known pre-Holocene birds from Madagascar and the first avian skeletal remains from the Mesozoic era of a large portion of Gondwana.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomical Sciences, Health Sciences Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York, 11794, USA

    Catherine A. Forster & David W. Krause

  2. Department of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History, 79th Street at Central Park West, New York, New York, USA

    Luis M. Chiappe

  3. Department of Anatomy, New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, New York, 11568, USA

    Scott D. Sampson

Authors
  1. Catherine A. Forster
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  2. Luis M. Chiappe
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  3. David W. Krause
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  4. Scott D. Sampson
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Forster, C., Chiappe, L., Krause, D. et al. The first Cretaceous bird from Madagascar. Nature 382, 532–534 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/382532a0

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