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Data from: Locomotory abilities and habitat of the Cretaceous bird Gansus yumenensis inferred from limb length proportions

Data from: Locomotory abilities and habitat of the Cretaceous bird Gansus yumenensis inferred from limb length proportions
Data from: Locomotory abilities and habitat of the Cretaceous bird Gansus yumenensis inferred from limb length proportions
The relative length proportions of the three bony elements of the pelvic (femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus) and pectoral (humerus, ulna and manus) limbs of the early Cretaceous bird Gansus yumenensis, a well-represented basal ornithuromorph from China are investigated and compared to those of extant taxa. Ternary plots show that the pectoral limb length proportions of Gansus are most similar to Apodiformes (swifts and hummingbirds), which plot away from all other extant birds. In contrast, the pelvic limb length proportions of Gansus fall within the extant bird cluster and show similarities with the neornithine families Podicipedidae (grebes), Diomedeidae (albatross) and Phalacrocoracidae (cormorants). Although it does have some of the pelvic limb features of grebes and cormorants, the femur of Gansus is more gracile and is thus more consistent with an albatross like shallow diving mode-of-life than a strong-foot-propelled diving movement pattern. The position of Gansus in pectoral limb ternary morphospace is largely due to its elongated manus. In contrast to apodiformes, where the humerus and ulna are short and robust, an adaptation, which provides a stiff wing for their demanding fast agile and hovering flight (respectively), the wing-bones of Gansus are slender, indicating a less vigorous flapping flight style. The suite of characters exhibited by Gansus mean it is difficult to completely interpret its likely ecology. Nevertheless, our analyses suggest that it is probable that this bird was both volant and capable of diving to some degree using either foot-propelled or, perhaps, both its wings and its feet for underwater locomotion.,Limb_length_dataThe file contains 4 tables containing pelvic and pectoral limb length measurements of fossil birds and extant birds measured in mm. The data were collected from museum specimens.Nudds_et_al_JEB-2012-00481.R1_data.pdf
DRYAD
Nudds, Robert L.
da7053c3-320b-4189-a228-534b95d80815
Atterholt, Jessie
8ea1a3f2-38b6-44e9-abee-ac993334b844
Wang, Xia
05442af1-b96d-4271-8b58-b8515946656a
You, H.-L.
792d9a13-a786-44a3-8eac-154f7f58576b
Dyke, Gareth J.
600ca61e-b40b-4c86-b8ae-13be4e331e94
Nudds, Robert L.
da7053c3-320b-4189-a228-534b95d80815
Atterholt, Jessie
8ea1a3f2-38b6-44e9-abee-ac993334b844
Wang, Xia
05442af1-b96d-4271-8b58-b8515946656a
You, H.-L.
792d9a13-a786-44a3-8eac-154f7f58576b
Dyke, Gareth J.
600ca61e-b40b-4c86-b8ae-13be4e331e94

(2012) Data from: Locomotory abilities and habitat of the Cretaceous bird Gansus yumenensis inferred from limb length proportions. DRYAD doi:10.5061/dryad.73k6g [Dataset]

Record type: Dataset

Abstract

The relative length proportions of the three bony elements of the pelvic (femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus) and pectoral (humerus, ulna and manus) limbs of the early Cretaceous bird Gansus yumenensis, a well-represented basal ornithuromorph from China are investigated and compared to those of extant taxa. Ternary plots show that the pectoral limb length proportions of Gansus are most similar to Apodiformes (swifts and hummingbirds), which plot away from all other extant birds. In contrast, the pelvic limb length proportions of Gansus fall within the extant bird cluster and show similarities with the neornithine families Podicipedidae (grebes), Diomedeidae (albatross) and Phalacrocoracidae (cormorants). Although it does have some of the pelvic limb features of grebes and cormorants, the femur of Gansus is more gracile and is thus more consistent with an albatross like shallow diving mode-of-life than a strong-foot-propelled diving movement pattern. The position of Gansus in pectoral limb ternary morphospace is largely due to its elongated manus. In contrast to apodiformes, where the humerus and ulna are short and robust, an adaptation, which provides a stiff wing for their demanding fast agile and hovering flight (respectively), the wing-bones of Gansus are slender, indicating a less vigorous flapping flight style. The suite of characters exhibited by Gansus mean it is difficult to completely interpret its likely ecology. Nevertheless, our analyses suggest that it is probable that this bird was both volant and capable of diving to some degree using either foot-propelled or, perhaps, both its wings and its feet for underwater locomotion.,Limb_length_dataThe file contains 4 tables containing pelvic and pectoral limb length measurements of fossil birds and extant birds measured in mm. The data were collected from museum specimens.Nudds_et_al_JEB-2012-00481.R1_data.pdf

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Published date: 2012

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 449010
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/449010
PURE UUID: 85371e3c-21dc-446c-911c-271b7a7e294c

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Date deposited: 13 May 2021 16:39
Last modified: 05 May 2023 18:13

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Contributors

Contributor: Robert L. Nudds
Contributor: Jessie Atterholt
Contributor: Xia Wang
Contributor: H.-L. You
Contributor: Gareth J. Dyke

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