A newly studied Vegavis iaai skull from Antarctica confirms that modern bird lineages, like ducks and geese, were evolving ...

A few fossilized body parts hinted at an enigmatic bird's close ties to waterfowl like ducks and geese. A newfound skull may bolster that idea.

Known as Vegavis iaai, the bird thrived in late-Cretaceous Antarctica, then a tropical paradise. About a million years before the asteroid that wiped out 75% of life on Earth, it went extinct.

Julia Clarke at the University of Texas at Austin first described Vegavis iaai based on a fossil dated ... known example of a vocal organ called a syrinx, a squawk box akin to the ones found ...

"Few birds are as likely to start as many arguments among paleontologists as 'vegavis,'" said professor Christopher Torres.

However, recent fossil discoveries—particularly of one waterfowl-like species named Vegavis iaai—complicate this simple narrative. During the late Cretaceou period, the landmass that is now ...

It belongs to a species that was first identified two decades ago named Vegavis iaai, which lived in the late Cretaceous Period alongside the last dinosaurs. But because only fragments of skulls ...

An Antarctic discovery might offer new insights into the origins of modern birds. The skull, from an ancient relative of ducks and geese known as Vegavis iaai, suggests that the key characteristics of ...

A recently analyzed near-complete fossil skull found in Antarctica has revealed Vegavis iaai to be the oldest known modern bird, according to a study published in Nature. 66 million years ago ...

The Late Cretaceous modern (crown) bird,Vegavis iaai, pursuit diving for fish in the shallow ocean off the coast of the Antarctic peninsula, with ammonites and plesiosaurs forcompany. Disclaimer ...

An artist’s interpretation of Vegavis iaai diving for fish in the shallow ocean off the coast of the Antarctic peninsula, with ammonites and plesiosaurs for company. Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert!