Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland

Royal Society of South Australia @royalsocietysa.bsky.social · Sep 8

Assoc. Prof. Trevor Worthy is our guest speaker for Thursday's Scientific Seminar. Presenting “Facing up to Genyornis – The hunt for the skull of Australia’s last Mihirung bird”, Trevor will cover the adventure to find its skull.
Thursday 11th September
RSSA Rooms, off Morgan Thomas Lane
6:00 pm

2 3

Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland

Mike Melton @mikemelton.bsky.social · Aug 14

Boat-billed Heron at Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge #CostaRica

I love their large eyes that help them hunt at night.

#herons #birds #nature

Close-up of a bird with a large, broad dark bill, brownish-tan plumage, and a grayish crown.

10 93 580

Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland

Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · Aug 13

Lovely naturalistic scene of birds and a butterfly in a papyrus thicket, carved by an ancient Egyptian artisan some 4,500 years ago!

Faint traces of paint survive on this limestone wall relief from the funerary temple of king Userkaf. Egyptian Museum, Cairo 📷 by me

#ReliefWednesday
#Archaeology

My photo shows a limestone wall panel carved in bas relief from the Fifth Dynasty Funerary Temple of king Userkaf at Saqqara, 2465-2458 BC. It shows birds and a butterfly in a papyrus thicket in the marshes of the river Nile. A pied kingfisher and butterfly hover above the papyrus thicket, whilst a hoopoe, an ibis with long curved beak, a night heron, and a gallinule,are depicted amongst the papyrus umbrels. Height 102 cm. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

15 120 520

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Aug 13

(I should add, I only mentioned New Zealand Paleocene penguins--the only described Paleocene penguin from elsewhere is Crossvallia unienwillia from the Antarctic Peninsula)

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Aug 13

Maybe not a paradise for all, way back then. I reckon it would've smelled pretty bad...

1 1

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Aug 13

60 million years ago, eastern #Aotearoa New Zealand was #penguin paradise!

We describe 4 archaic penguin species from the Waipara Greensand, North Canterbury. This now totals 10 species from there, in addition to a diversity of Paleocene penguins from Otago and Chatham Island.
#fossil #birds

Multiple exceptionally preserved fossils from the Paleocene Waipara Greensand inform the diversity of the oldest stem group Sphenisciformes and the formation of their diving adaptations

Abstract. We report new stem group sphenisciforms (ancestral penguins) from the Paleocene of the Waipara Greensand (Canterbury, New Zealand), and describe

academic.oup.com

1 10 28

Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland

Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · Aug 12

New Paleocene proto-penguins Archaeodyptes waitahaorum, Daniadyptes primaevus, Waimanutaha kenlovei, and Waiparadyptes gracilitarsus: academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a... 🪶🧪 (📷Mayr et al.)

Multiple fossilized skeletons of extinct birds closely related to penguins.

10 39

Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland

Jamie Wood @larusnz.bsky.social · Aug 4

New Zealand birds never fail to amaze. The extinct Hodgen's rail, thought to be a diminutive relative of the Australian waterhen, turns out instead to be a giant crake!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

📷: Paul Martinson, Te Papa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

1 5

Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland

German Ornithological Society @dornitholges.bsky.social · Aug 4

Now online in Journal of #Ornithology

Another case of island gigantism: the extinct Hodgens’ Waterhen (Tribonyx hodgenorum) is a member of Porzana (Aves: Rallidae)

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Another case of island gigantism: the extinct Hodgens’ Waterhen (Tribonyx hodgenorum) is a member of Porzana (Aves: Rallidae) - Journal of Ornithology

Tribonyx hodgenorum (Scarlett, Rec Canterb Mus 6:265–266, 1955) was a flightless rail (Rallidae) endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand that became extinct in the eighteenth century. The affinities of this r...

link.springer.com

1 2

Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland

Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · Aug 1

Genetic analysis reveals that the recently extinct Hodgens' waterhen ("Tribonyx" hodgenorum; A, D, G, J in figure) was a giant, flightless crake in the genus Porzana: link.springer.com/article/10.1... 🪶🧪 (📷Sangster et al.)

Comparison of the wing and leg bones of several species of rail, including the recently extinct Hodgens' waterhen (A, D, G, J), the closely related Australian crake (B, E, H, K), and the black-tailed nativehen (C, F, I, L).

7 31

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Aug 1

Unfortunately, as is too common of a story, we just missed out on meeting this guy. The most recent bones of this species are from a midden from the 1700s.

3

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Aug 1

The implication is that this rail is not a flightless insular dwarf allied with the chook-sized nativehens (Tribonyx spp.), but rather a bantam-sized island giant that evolved from much smaller ancestors (Porzana fluminea)!

We thought 'New Zealand giant crake' was fitting.

1 3

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Aug 1

This highlights the usefulness of considering molecular data and morphology together, to better understand evolutionary trends.

1 2

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Aug 1

A close relationship to the crakes of Porzana was unexpected, and had been previously unconsidered or dismissed on the basis of morphology.

Looking at the bones in the context of this new information, despite the difference in size, there are several features that support this relationship.

Figure 2 from the paper, comparing pelves of Hodgens' waterhen, Tribonyx ventralis and Porzana fluminea.

Figure 3 from the paper, comparing the humerus, femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus of Hodgens' waterhen, Tribonyx ventralis and Porzana fluminea.

1 1

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Aug 1

The 3 modern species of Porzana are around starling-sized, or smaller. This rail—Porzana hodgenorum—was considerably larger, but still only about the size of a bantam.

1 1

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Aug 1

Until now, the consensus was that it was a flightless nativehen of Tribonyx (otherwise only known from Australia), Tribonyx hodgenorum.

New genetic evidence shows that it was a member of Porzana—the 7th genus—and the closest relative of the Australian spotted crake (Porzana fluminea).

The Australian Spotted Crake, Porzana fluminea. Image by
patrickkavanagh, Flickr, CC BY 2.0
https://www.flickr.com/photos/patrick_k59/52909644058/

The Black-tailed nativehen, Tribonyx ventralis. Ron Knight, Flickr, CC BY 2.0
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sussexbirder/8079591021/in/photostream/

1 1

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Aug 1

Since its description 70 years ago, this rail has been placed in 6 different genera, as perhaps a nice illustration of the relative morphological homogeneity across the family Rallidae (which is only further confused by the independent evolution of flightlessness in many species!).

Taxonomic synonymy for this species. Author provided.

Hodgens' Waterhen. "Gallinula hodgenorum". From the series: Extinct Birds of New Zealand., 2005, Masterton, by Paul Martinson. Purchased 2006. © Te Papa. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Te Papa (2006-0010-1/47)

1 1

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Aug 1

New #research out today led by George Sangster, with Trevor Worthy, Pascale Lubbe, Paul Scofield & myself.

Recently #extinct flightless #rail Hodgens' waterhen from #Aotearoa New Zealand is a 'giant' crake of the genus Porzana, rather than a nativehen of Tribonyx.

(📷 credits given in ALT text)

Another case of island gigantism: the extinct Hodgens’ Waterhen (Tribonyx hodgenorum) is a member of Porzana (Aves: Rallidae) - Journal of Ornithology

Tribonyx hodgenorum (Scarlett, Rec Canterb Mus 6:265–266, 1955) was a flightless rail (Rallidae) endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand that became extinct in the eighteenth century. The affinities of this r...

link.springer.com

1 3 7

Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland

Jarod K. Anderson @jarodkanderson.bsky.social · Jul 30

Birds are dinosaurs who shrugged off a couple apocalypses. Some eat bone marrow. Some drink nectar. They outswim fish in the sea. They smile politely at gravity’s demands. ‬

‪I am grateful to see them. I am grateful to feed them. I am grateful to know them.‬

27 370 1.4K

Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland

Isaac Kerr @isaacarkerr.bsky.social · Jul 31

NEW #RESEARCH WOOHOO
Here's our description of Dorcopsoides cowpatensis sp. nov., a little #fossil macropodine #kangaroo from the late Miocene Ongeva locality in central #Australia.
doi.org/10.1080/0311...

A new fossil kangaroo species of the genus Dorcopsoides (Marsupialia, Macropodinae) from the late Miocene Ongeva Local Fauna, central Australia

The kangaroo tribe Dorcopsini is represented today by six species of New Guinean forest-wallaby. However, the group has a patchy fossil record beginning on the Australian mainland in the upper Mioc...

doi.org

2 1 5

Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland

Stephan Spiekman @stephanspiekman.bsky.social · Jul 23

I am proud and grateful to present a dream project today in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎

14 96 240

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Jul 20

Came across this the other day... first time I've seen my work being used in the production of an AI image. The skull they've used is the same one I had drawn.

Had to laugh at "All rights and credits reserved to the respective". Sad that this type of thing is commonplace.

Screenshot 1 of 2 of a Facebook post about Genyornis newtoni, which has an AI generated image produced from work illustrated by Jacob Blokland (not attributed).

Screenshot 2 of 2 of a Facebook post about Genyornis newtoni, which has an AI generated image produced from work illustrated by Jacob Blokland (not attributed). Skull image they have used here is unaltered from what I drew.

Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland

phoebyornis.bsky.social @phoebyornis.bsky.social · Jul 6

It was fun diving into the world of ancient sound-scapes with GM and hearing analyses. I think the dromornithids will continue to suprise me at every turn

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Jul 6

Great new research out by @phoebyornis.bsky.social McIn-ear-ney, Warren and Trevor, investigating the hearing capabilities of Australia's extinct Thunder Birds (Dromornithidae). Love the idea of these beasties booming across the landscape.

The hearing capabilities of the Dromornithidae (Aves), with inferences on acoustic communication and ecology

The preservation of bony structures which enclose the hearing organs (ECD) provide a basis for interpreting the hearing capabilities of the extinct, flightless Dromornithidae (Aves). Although the len....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

1 4

Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland

Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · Jul 4

Phylogenetic position of the recently extinct Nesotrochis "cave rails" of the Caribbean: www.avespress.com/uploads/down... New analysis suggests they were the closest known relatives of the (also recently extinct) New Zealand adzebills! 🪶🧪 (📷 @stervander.com et al.)

Diagram showing the evolutionary relationships among cranes, rails, and other closely related birds, scaled against geologic time.

5 18

Jacob C. Blokland @blokoweka.bsky.social · Jul 6

Great new research out by @phoebyornis.bsky.social McIn-ear-ney, Warren and Trevor, investigating the hearing capabilities of Australia's extinct Thunder Birds (Dromornithidae). Love the idea of these beasties booming across the landscape.

The hearing capabilities of the Dromornithidae (Aves), with inferences on acoustic communication and ecology

The preservation of bony structures which enclose the hearing organs (ECD) provide a basis for interpreting the hearing capabilities of the extinct, flightless Dromornithidae (Aves). Although the len....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

1 6