China News Service, Beijing, March 29 (Reporter Sun Zifa) The latest research by the research team of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Institute of Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) has found an ancient owl that is "deviant" and not a "night owl" -- they An extinct 6-million-year-old diurnal owl fossil was collected on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is also the earliest owl-shaped bird fossil discovered in China for the first time.
This owl fossil lived at the end of the Miocene about 6 million to 9.5 million years ago. The scientific research team named it "Zhongxin Mammoth Owl" after taking into account its age of existence, living habits, and skeletal characteristics. ”, which means the diurnal owl-shaped raptor from the Miocene, and the related research results were published in the latest issue of the international academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Li Zhiheng, the first author of the paper and associate researcher of the Institute of Paleo-Spine of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was interviewed by a reporter from China News Agency in Beijing on the 29th, and said that the "Japanese-travelling Chinese mammoth owl" is the first well-preserved Miocene owl species found in China. Fossil owl.
This study not only reconstructs the evolutionary history of owl diurnal-nocturnal movement for the academic community, but also provides new evidence for the paleoecology around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the Late Miocene and the faunal evolution of Palaearctic birds.
He introduced that the fossil specimen of the "Daily Traveling Zhongxin Mammoth Owl" was unearthed from the fine-grained silty clay deposits of the Liushu Formation in the Linxia Basin, Gansu Province, on the northeastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and it is closer to the body shape of the Northern Eagle Owl.
This study carried out detailed statistical analysis and comparison of the scleral ossicles of this owl fossil with the scleral bones and orbital sizes of 55 species of reptiles and more than 360 birds, including many species of owls, and the results proved that this extinct species The owl's eyes are less open to light, which greatly reduces the amount of sunlight that penetrates, so that they can see clearly at noon.
The study also used data from more than 360 species in the Bird Diversity Database to conduct a larger-scale statistical analysis, using diurnal, nocturnal, or morning-evening travel as characteristic points to develop evolutionary characteristics. Random feature mapping and ancestral state reconstructions show that the ancestors of all extant owls almost certainly had a predominantly nocturnal activity pattern, but the ancestors of Mammoths, including Owls and Middle-New Mammoths, were unquestionably Daywalker.
After adding the data of China-Singapore mammoth owls, the probability of diurnal behavior of mammoth owls is close to 100%.
In addition, according to a large lump-shaped protrusion at the tail of the cheekbone behind the eyes of the earliest owl fossil specimen in China, the research team classified the "new mammoth owl in the sun", the northern eagle owl, and the owl owl as a mammoth owl. group of sisters.
As for why the "new raptor owl in the day-travel" evolved into a daytime active raptor, the scientific research team hopes to conduct in-depth research through more fossils to reveal it.
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