The first definitive record of a fossil bird from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of the Haţeg Basin, Romania

Wang, Xia, Csiki, Zoltán, Ősi, Attila and Dyke, Gareth J. (2011) The first definitive record of a fossil bird from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of the Haţeg Basin, Romania. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 31 (1), 227-330. (doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.541013).

Abstract

Located in southwestern Transylvania, Romania, the uppermost Cretaceous continental deposits of the Haţeg Basin are widely known for their well-preserved and diverse vertebrate fauna (e.g., Bojar et al., 2010; Grigorescu, 2010). Since the end of the 19th century, investigations of the fossiliferous continental deposits within the Hat¸eg Basin have revealed a wide range of preservation modes and taxa, including a large variety of small non-avian theropods (Weishampel and Jianu, 1996; Csiki and Grigorescu, 1998; Codrea et al., 2002; O? si and Fo? zy, 2007), several sites with dinosaur egg clutches and hatchlings (Grigorescu et al., 1990; Grigorescu, 1993; Weishampel et al., 1993; Codrea et al., 2002), a large pterosaur (Buffetaut et al., 2002), mammals (Grigorescu and Hahn, 1987; Csiki and Grigorescu, 2000; Codrea et al., 2002), and numerous other vertebrates (Folie and Codrea, 2005; Martin et al., 2006).

It is thus surprising that bird remains have proved extremely rare within the Haţeg fauna. So far, only inconclusive records have been reported: Andrews (1913) first referred the proximal end of a femur and two distal tibiotarsi to Elopteryx nopcsai, a supposed pelecaniform bird. These tibiotarsi were later redescribed by Harrison and Walker (1975), who suggested that they belonged to two new taxa of Cretaceous owls (Strigiformes)—Bradycneme draculae and Heptasteornis andrewsi. However, the affinities of these bones have been much disputed and they are now generally regarded as belonging to non-avian theropods (Brodkorb, 1978; Elzanowski, 1983; Olson, 1985; Naish and Dyke, 2004; Kessler et al., 2005).

Here, we present the first unequivocal evidence for a fossil bird in the Maastrichtian of the Haţeg Basin, a partial left tibiotarsus from the ‘middle member’ of the Densus¸-Ciula Formation (Fig. 1). The Maastrichtian age of these continental deposits is rather poorly constrained, as they overlie uppermost Campanian marine deposits (Melinte-Dobrinescu, 2010) and have yielded palynological assemblages indicative of a latest Cretaceous age (Antonescu et al., 1983; Csiki et al., 2008). The specimen (FGGUB [Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, University of Bucharest] R.1902) was discovered in the rich microvertebrate bonebed at Fˆantˆ anele, nearV? alioara (seeGrigorescu et al., 1999), in the northwestern part of the Hat¸eg Basin, preserved in drab, fine-grained deposits suggestive of a poorly drained floodplain environment.

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