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 for company. Credit: Mark ...

For years, scientists were uncertain about Vegavis’s place in the evolutionary tree due to the scarcity of modern bird fossils from before the mass extinction that occurred 66 million years ago.

For years, scientists were uncertain about Vegavis’s place in the evolutionary tree due to the scarcity of modern bird fossils from before the mass extinction that occurred 66 million years ago.

Digital reconstruction of the Late Cretaceous (~69 million years old) crown bird Vegavis iaai that was completed following high-resolution micro-computed tomography of a fossil-bearing concretion ...

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.

Scientists say a 69-million-year-old fossil found in Antarctica now represents the earliest known modern bird, shedding new light on the evolution of early avian species. The skull of Vegavis iaai, a ...

The discovery of Vegavis iaai has significant implications for our understanding of bird evolution. As Patrick O’Connor, a professor of anatomical sciences at Ohio University, noted, Vegavis ...

A 68-million-year-old Antarctic fossil revealed the oldest known modern bird, Vegavis iaai, a duck-sized diver with traits linking it to today’s waterfowl. | Trending ...

For decades, scientists have wondered at the taxonomy of Vegavis iaai— an ancient avian specimen that lived in what is now Antarctica during the late Cretaceous period. A new study, in which ...

A newly discovered fossil in Antarctica, estimated to be 68 million years old, reveals the oldest known modern bird, Vegavis iaai. This duck-sized bir ...

Paleontologist Daniel Field from the University of Cambridge, who was not involved in the study, told Science News that while the fossil is significant, uncertainties remain regarding its ...

STOCKTON, Calif. — A remarkable fossil discovery from Antarctica is rewriting the story of bird evolution. Scientists have unearthed an exceptionally well-preserved skull belonging to Vegavis ...