Earliest evidence for fruit consumption and potential seed dispersal by birds
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- Zoology Division, School of Environmental and Rural Sciences, University of New England, Australia
- Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, China
- Field Museum of Natural History, United States
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, China
- Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Australia
- Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature, China
Figures
Figure 1 with 1 supplement
Jeholornis STM 3–8.
(A) Left and (B) right views of the 3D reconstructed model of the skull. (C) Left and (D) ventral views of the reassembled 3D model of the skull. (E) Left and (F) ventral views of the 2D cranial reconstruction. (G) Photograph of the skull. (H) Dorsal view of the reassembled 3D model of the mandible. Abbreviations: 1. premaxilla; 2. nasal; 3. preorbital ossification; 4. lacrimal; 5. maxilla; 6. jugal; 7. quadratojugal; 8. frontal; 9. braincase; 10. squamosal; 11. postorbital; 12. scleral ring; 13. quadrate; 14. dentary; 15. surangular; 16. angular; 17. splenial; 18. vomer; 19. palatine; 20. pterygoid; 21. potential ectopterygoid. Different bones are indicated by different colours. Dashed lines indicate the elements not preserved but suspected to exist. Scale bar equals 5 mm.
Figure 1—figure supplement 1
Photograph of the whole slab of Jeholornis STM 3–8.
Scale bar equals 10 mm.
Figure 2 with 5 supplements
PCA result of 3D mandible shape (A, B) and 2D skull shape (C, D) with the diets of extant birds divided into Seed-crackers (parrots), Seed-crackers (passerines), Seed-grinders, Fruit eaters, and Other diets.
Different diet categories are indicated by different colours, and key samples are labelled with generic names.
-
Figure 2—source data 1
Descriptions of cranial and upper jaw landmarks and semi-landmarks (following Bjarnason and Benson, 2021).
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/74751/elife-74751-fig2-data1-v1.docx
-
Figure 2—source data 2
Descriptions of mandible landmarks and semi-landmarks (following Bjarnason and Benson, 2021).
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/74751/elife-74751-fig2-data2-v1.docx
-
Figure 2—source data 3
Euclidean distances in the full multivariate shape space of the mandible shape analysis.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/74751/elife-74751-fig2-data3-v1.csv
-
Figure 2—source data 4
Euclidean distances in the full multivariate shape space of the skull shape analysis.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/74751/elife-74751-fig2-data4-v1.csv
Figure 2—figure supplement 1
Landmark and semi-landmark locations in Menura novaehollandiae as an example of modern taxa used in geometric morphometric (GMM) analyses (following Bjarnason and Benson, 2021).
Black labels indicate the description names, and blue labels below indicate the names in R.
Figure 2—figure supplement 2
PCA result of 3D mandible (A, B) and 2D skull shape (C, D) with the diets of extant birds divided into Seed-crackers (parrots), Seed-crackers (passerines), Seed-grinders, Fruit eaters, and Other diets and all the generic names labelled.
Figure 2—figure supplement 3
PCA result of 3D mandible (A, B) and 2D skull shape (C, D) with the diets of extant birds divided into Probing for invertebrates, Grabbing/pecking for invertebrates, and Other diets.
Figure 2—figure supplement 4
PCA result of 3D mandible (A, B) and 2D skull shape (C, D) with the diets of extant birds divided into Piscivores, Animal-dominated omnivores, Carnivores, and Other diets.
Figure 2—figure supplement 5
PCA result of 3D mandible (A, B) and 2D skull shape (C, D) with the diets of extant birds divided into Nectarivores, Omnivores, Plant-dominated omnivores, and Other diets.
Figure 3
Seeds preserved in the abdominal area of selected Jeholornis prima specimens.
(A) IVPP V13274 (holotype). (B) STM 2–41. (C) Close-up image of seeds in IVPP V13274 (A). (D) Gastrolith mass in J. prima STM 2–15. Photos in A–D followed figures in O’Connor et al., 2018. Scale bars equal 5 mm.
© 2018, O'Connor et al. A-D is reprinted from Figures 1-4 from O’Connor et al., 2018, with permission from Elsevier. It is not covered by the CC-BY 4.0 license and further reproduction of this panel would need permission from the copyright holder.
Figure 4 with 2 supplements
3D reconstructed seed models preserved in alimentary tract of selected modern birds.
(A) Manucodia comrii (fruit eater). (B) Pedionomus torquatus (seed-grinder). (C) Ectopistes migratorius (seed-grinder). (D) Geospiza fuliginosa (use both seed-cracking and seed-grinding strategies). (E) Conuropsis carolinensis (seed-cracker). Dash-lined boxes indicate local magnifications. Gastroliths are remarkably brighter than other contents in the slices. Red arrows indicate the breakages of seeds in slices, which are difficult to show in the reconstructed models. Scale bars equal 5 mm for the whole models and slices, and 1 mm for the magnification boxes.
-
Figure 4—source data 1
Specimens used in the alimentary content analyses.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/74751/elife-74751-fig4-data1-v1.docx
Figure 4—figure supplement 1
Scanning slices of the alimentary contents in involved modern bird samples.
Figure 4—figure supplement 2
Scanning slices of the alimentary contents in involved modern bird samples.
Red arrows indicate the breakages of seeds.
Additional files
Download links
A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.
Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)
Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)
Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)
Earliest evidence for fruit consumption and potential seed dispersal by birds
eLife 11:e74751.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.74751
