Oldest hummingbird fossils found

A pair of 30 million-year-old fossils from southern Germany are the oldest
fossil hummingbirds, a researcher says.
The location of the finds is unexpected, because today the birds are only
known from the Americas.

In the latest edition of Science magazine, Dr Gerald Mayr claims the fossils
show many striking resemblances to modern hummingbird groups.

The extinct hummingbirds may have influenced the shape of some modern Asian
and African flowers.

"Fossils of primitive hummingbirds have been found in the Old World before,
but it was a great surprise to find a bird that looked so similar to the
modern hummingbirds of the Old World," Dr Mayr, of the Senkenberg Natural
History Museum in Frankfurt, told BBC News Online.

Other fossil hummingbirds have been found in Central America, Europe and
Asia, but they are either very different from modern ones or are known from
just a few bones.

The new fossils, which have been assigned to the species Eurotrochilus
inexpectatus, were endowed with long, nectar-sucking beaks and wings
designed for feeding while hovering.

They share key anatomical features on their wings with modern hummingbirds.
The primitive hummingbird Jungornis tesselatus lacks these features.

Read the rest at BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3691169.stm

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek.
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