Bird Skeletons Research Articles

Incidence of healed fracture in the skeletons of birds, molluscs and primates

The incidences of healed fracture in the limb bones of birds and the shells of molluscs were estimated by the examination of samples of bones and shells. The results are compared to published data on fracture incidence in molluscs and in primates and other mammals. The relationship between observed incidence of healed fracture, costs of growth and use of the skeleton, and the costs associated with its failure are discussed in terms of a theory of factors of safety.

Exceptional preservation of Eocene vertebrates in the lake deposit of Grube Messel (West Germany)

Less than 2% of Lagerstätten with fossil vertebrate remains have yielded anything more than fragments of jaw material and other bones. One such exceptional deposit is the former oil shale mine of ‘Grube Messel’, located about 30 km south east of Frankfurt am Main. Articulated skeletons of various fish, salamanders, frogs, turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodiles, birds and mammals, as well as several hundred insects and plant remains, have been recovered, particularly during the last decade. The quality of preservation is truly exceptional. In many cases not only are the skeletons articulated, but the outlines of the entire body are preserved as black silhouettes. Sometimes even the contents of the digestive tract are available for investigation. Apart from the fish that formerly lived in the lake, the most frequent fossils found are flying creatures such as birds, bats and insects. Clearly, the lake acted as some kind of trap for these animals. The different modes of preservations are reviewed and the factors involved in this example of special preservation discussed.

Avifauna from the Curtis Site, Southeastern Arizona

A total of 43 individual bird bones and three partial bird skeletons representing 19 species were recovered from excavations at the Curtis Site in Graham County, southeastern Arizona. Although ther...

Preparation of Monkey Skeletons Using the Dermestid Beetle Technique

Research Article| October 01 1964 Preparation of Monkey Skeletons Using the Dermestid Beetle Technique Robert Klein Robert Klein Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar The American Biology Teacher (1964) 26 (6): 426–427. https://doi.org/10.2307/4440715 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Robert Klein; Preparation of Monkey Skeletons Using the Dermestid Beetle Technique. The American Biology Teacher 1 October 1964; 26 (6): 426–427. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/4440715 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentThe American Biology Teacher Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1964 National Association of Biology Teachers Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The Technique of Preparing Bird Skeletons for Study by Maceration

The Technique of Preparing Bird Skeletons for Study by Maceration

Suggestions regarding Alcoholic Specimens and Skeletons of Birds

Suggestions regarding Alcoholic Specimens and Skeletons of Birds

CONVERGENT EVOLUTION: THE JAWS OF HESPERORNIS AND THE MOSASAURS

A striking example of convergence, the evolution of similar structures from different antecedent body plans by unrelated organisms, is provided by the comparison of the lower jaws of the Cretaceous toothed bird, Hesperornis, and those of the giant marine lizards known as mosasaurs, whose skeletons are entombed within the same strata. 0. C. Marsh, the discoverer of Hesperornis, himself briefly noted the presence of an intramandibular joint in its jaw (1880, p. 11), but his interest in the retention of teeth and the supposedly primitive brain (cf., Edinger, 1951) of this bird led him to neglect further consideration of this feature. Elsewhere among tetrapods a splenio-angular articulation is known only in the mosasaurs in which it has been described in detail by Williston (1898, pp. 130-134). The structural similarities of the mandibles of mosasaurs and Hesperornis are so great that it is hard to realize that they have arisen independently from rather dissimilar types of reptilian jaws. Yet such is clearly the case, for Hesperornis was a bird, derived from the reptilian Subclass Archosauria, whereas mosasaurs (fig. 6) are modified lizards [Subclass Lepidosauria] close to the living Varanus in their basic structure and undoubtedly derived either from the early Varanidae or their immediate precursors. Besides the distinctive mandibular joint the mosasaurs and Hesperornis show similarities in several other features, all of which may be related to their aquatic habitat and presumably piscivorous diet. Their convergence is thus adaptive and typical of that phenomenon. This discussion is a by-product of an investigation of the jaws which Marsh attributed to another Cretaceous bird, Ichthyornis. Evidence is presented elsewhere which shows that these jaws probably did not belong with that bird skeleton but are actually young mosasaur jaws which were washed into the, same deposit with bird bones of similar size. Routine comparison with Hesperornis, the only other Cretaceous bird sufficiently well known for comparison, brought the convergent condition mentioned above to light. The present report is based upon detailed study of the lower jaws of Hesperornis regalis Marsh, Yale Peabody Museum No. 1206, and of Hesperornis gracilis' Marsh, Kansas University Museum of Natural History No. 2287, which to the best of my knowledge are the only extant specimens of these birds in which skull and mandible are preserved. In the course of this study I have received valued advice and much encouragement from many colleagues, particularly Dr. Tilly Edinger, Dr. Hildegarde Howard, Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, and Dr. Alexander Wetmore. The illustrations were prepared by Miss Shirley Glaser.

Some Bird Skeletons from Guadalupe Island

Some Bird Skeletons from Guadalupe Island

Scientific results of explorations by the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross. No. XIII.—Catalogue of skeletons of birds collected at the Abrolhos Islands, Brazil, the Straits of Magellan, and the Galapagos Islands, in 1887-'88

Scientific results of explorations by the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross. No. XIII.—Catalogue of skeletons of birds collected at the Abrolhos Islands, Brazil, the Straits of Magellan, and the Galapagos Islands, in 1887-'88

The Osteology of Habia Melanocephala, with Comparative Notes upon the Skeletons of Certain Other Conirostral Birds and of Tanagers

The Osteology of Habia Melanocephala, with Comparative Notes upon the Skeletons of Certain Other Conirostral Birds and of Tanagers

Individual Variation in the Skeletons of Birds, and Other Matters

Individual Variation in the Skeletons of Birds, and Other Matters

Biological Notes

NEW WORK ON BIRDS.—We have received the prospectus of a new. work by Dr. A. B. Mayer, Director of the Royal Zoological Museum of Dresden, to be entitled “Abbildungen von Vogel-Skektten,” in which he signifies his intention to publish, in parts, figures of the skeletons of rare or little-known birds. Each part is to contain ten plates of large quarto size, one of which, representing the skeleton of the extremely uncommon parrot from New Guinea, Dasyptilus pecqueti (Lesson) accompanies the prospectus. It is a phoio-lithograph, and differs materially from any other which we have seen in one important particular, namely that the bones of one side only are depicted, which is a great advantage, as it prevents the confusion unavoidably associated with the representation of the whole structure. The illumination of each bone and the focus of every part is most satisfactory, more so in many respects than any drawing could possibly be. Short commentaries, with measurements, will accompany each plate. It is proposed that Part I. shall contain figures of Loriculus cuiacissi, Charmosyna josephina, Meropogon forsteni, Paradisea papuana, Cicinurus regius, Mann-codia chaiybea, Ptilopus speciosus, Otidiphaps nobilis, and Gallus bachiva (from Celebes). In the series is also to be included the skeletons of the several domestic pigeons and fowls. We hope that Dr. Mayer will have a large subscription to this valuable addition to ornithological literature.

On the different Methods of preparing Natural skeletons of Birds

On the different Methods of preparing Natural skeletons of Birds