First bird beak, right under their noses

A rare fossil from an early bird gives a unique insight into how modern birds evolved from dinosaurs. Last updated on Wednesday 16 May 2018 - An international team of researchers has pieced together the three-dimensional skull of an iconic, toothed bird that represents a pivotal moment in the transition from dinosaurs to modern-day birds. The team, including researchers from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, says the rare 3D fossil shows that the first bird beaks had teeth. Ichthyornis dispar lived around 86 million years ago in North America and was a similar size to a seagull First discovered in the 1870s, I. dispar is a key species in the transition from dinosaurs to modern birds Whereas most fossils are squashed flat, this is the first fossil of I. dispar with a skull preserved in 3D CT scans of the fossil shows insight into how modern day birds transitioned from the dinosaurs Ichthyornis dispar drew the attention of such famous naturalists as Yale's O.C. Marsh (who first named and described it) and Charles Darwin. Yet despite the existence of partial specimens of Ichthyornis dispar , there has been no significant new skull material beyond the fragmentary remains first found in the 1870s. Now, a team led by Bath and Yale Universities reports on new specimens with three-dimensional cranial remains - including one example of a complete skull and two previously overlooked cranial elements that were part of the original specimen at Yale - that reveal new details about one of the most striking transformations in evolutionary history.