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Eocene fossil feather from King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2013

Héctor G. Mansilla ,
Wolfgang Stinnesbeck ,
Natalia Varela  and
Marcelo Leppe
Héctor G. Mansilla*
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Paleobiología, Instituto Antártico Chileno (INACH), Lautaro Navarro 1245, Punta Arenas 6200000, Chile
Wolfgang Stinnesbeck
Affiliation:
Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 234, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Natalia Varela
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Paleobiología, Instituto Antártico Chileno (INACH), Lautaro Navarro 1245, Punta Arenas 6200000, Chile
Marcelo Leppe
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Paleobiología, Instituto Antártico Chileno (INACH), Lautaro Navarro 1245, Punta Arenas 6200000, Chile
*
hmansilla@inach.cl
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Abstract

The first fossil avian feather from Antarctica is reported here, from the early to middle Eocene Fossil Hill Formation at Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica. Characteristics such as its form, asymmetry of vanes, closed-pennaceous vanes with barbules and a deep ventral groove indicate that the feather was used for flight. The site from which the feather was collected is known to yield a variety of well-preserved trace fossils, palaeobotanical and palaeoenvironmental remains, suggesting a shorebird ecotype for the owner of this feather, certainly belonging to a Neornithes. The continental position, preservation as an external mould and type of feather makes this specimen a novel and an exceedingly rare record.

Keywords

avesCenozoicflightFossil HillPalaeogene
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , August 2014 , pp. 384 - 388
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2013 

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