Fossil skulls provide crucial insights into the lives of extinct animals, revealing details about their diet and brain characteristics. For birds, fossilized skulls are often flattened by geological processes, leaving many aspects of their evolution shrouded in mystery. However, a newly discovered bird species, Navaornis hestiae, has unveiled significant information about avian brain and skull evolution from the Age of Dinosaurs.
The well-preserved skull of Navaornis hestiae shows that some ancient birds developed modern-shaped skulls using archaic traits. Dr. Luis Chiappe from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County noted that “some of the birds flying over the heads of dinosaurs already had a fully modern skull geometry more than 80 million years ago,” achieving this with different structures than those found in modern birds.
Navaornis hestiae belongs to Enantiornithes, an extinct group between Archaeopteryx and modern birds. These fossils rarely retain their three-dimensional shape due to their small and hollow bones. The discovery was made possible through CT scanning technology used by an international team led by Dr. Guillermo Navalón from the University of Cambridge.
Dr. Navalón expressed excitement about reconstructing the inner skull digitally: “Reconstructing the inner skull and seeing how it combined modern and archaic features with some very puzzling unique traits that we do not fully understand yet was magical.” The research raises new questions about bird evolution.
The fossil was found at Sítio Paleontológico ‘José Martin Suárez’ in Brazil, highlighting unique evolutionary aspects specific to this region. Co-author Dr. Ismar Carvalho emphasized its significance: “Navaornis provides a critical piece of new evidence from a geographic region that is significantly less sampled.”
Navaornis is one among hundreds of Enantiornithe specimens unearthed at William’s quarry in southeastern Brazil, named after amateur paleontologist Mr. William Nava who discovered the site in 2004 and found the rare skull in 2015.
“We’re all excited to see how other fossils from the site and the larger region will help fill even more of the knowledge gap in the long evolution of birds,” said Nava.
The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County hold extensive collections for scientific research while promoting public education through various programs. The Dinosaur Institute houses Mesozoic tetrapod collections and supports academic training programs.
