#burmite — Public Fediverse posts

Electroscincus zedi: Compound Osteoderms preserved in #Amber reveal the Oldest Known Skink https://novataxa.blogspot.com/2024/07/electroscincus.html

"#Scincidae is one of the most species-rich and cosmopolitan clades of squamate #reptiles. Abundant disarticulated #fossil material has also been attributed to this group, however, no complete pre-#Cenozoic crown-scincid specimens have been found. A specimen in #Burmite (99 MYA) is the first fossil that can be unambiguously referred to this clade."

#Fossils reveal how ancient #birds molted, could explain why modern birds survived while other #dinosaurs died https://phys.org/news/2023-07-fossils-reveal-ancient-birds-molted.html

Immature #feathers preserved in #Burmite provide evidence of rapid molting in #enantiornithines: Jingmai O'Connor et al. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195667123001003

"the pressures of being a #precocial baby bird that had to keep itself warm, while undergoing a rapid molt, might have been a factor in the ultimate doom of the Enantiornithines."