Vegavis is a genus of extinct bird that lived in Antarctica during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous.The type and only species is Vegavis iaai, representing one of the earliest known crown group birds. Initially described as member of Anseriformes within Galloanserae, the definitive taxonomic position of Vegavis was debated among paleontologists over two decades …

1 day ago · The analysis also showed that V. iaai had strong jaw muscles similar to today’s diving birds. This evidence supports a connection between V. iaai and modern birds, but it has not positively identified the species as an ancestor of ducks and geese. “Vegavis seems to have been a bit of an odd duck,” Daniel Ksepka, a paleontologist at the Bruce Museum in Connecticut, …

2 days ago · Skeletal drawing of the crown bird Vegavis iaai that lived in Antarctica 69 million years ago. (Image credit: Christopher Torres/ University of the Pacific) The giant asteroid that hit Earth at ...

2 days ago · Among the earliest known putative crown birds is Vegavis iaai 1,2,3,4,5, a foot-propelled diver from the latest Cretaceous (69.2–68.4 million years ago) 6 of Antarctica with controversial ...

2 days ago · At left is Vegavis iaai, which lived in Antarctica a few million years before the extinction. At right, its close relative Conflicto antarcticus , which lived during the early Paleocene Epoch ...

1 day ago · Around 20 years ago, a team of paleontologists identified Vegavis iaai for the first time, citing a fossil from Antarctica, around 68 million years to 66 million years old.At the time of the identification, the paleontologists classified the species as a modern bird, but their classification has been controversial and tricky to confirm since.

2 days ago · Scientists first described the small, sleek bird—Vegavis iaai—in 2005 based on a partial skeleton collected from Vega Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in 1992. They dated the fossil to 67 million years ago and tentatively assigned it to the order of waterfowl (Anseriformes), which includes today’s ducks, geese, and swans.

2 days ago · A life reconstruction of Vegavis iaai, a late Cretaceous loon-size bird diving for fish in the shallow ocean off the coast of the Antarctic peninsula, with ammonites and plesiosaurs for company.

May 27, 2024 · Vegavis is an extinct bird from the Vegaviidae family, a prehistoric relative of ducks and geese in the Late Cretaceous. Paleontologists discovered the ancient bird’s fossils on Vega Island, a small island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.

1 day ago · A near-perfect fossilized skull discovered in Antarctica reveals the bridge between prehistoric and modern birds, a new study has found. The fossil is a specimen of a species called Vegavis iaai, which lived around 69 million years ago – more than 2 million years before the mass extinction that wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs.