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An attempt to reconstruct the lifestyle of confuciusornithids (Aves, Confuciusornithiformes)

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Abstract

The lifestyle of some representatives of the family Confuciusornithidae is reconstructed based on the analysis of osteological data, horn structures, and taphonomy. Confuciusornithids, which resemble extant Phaethon in general appearance, fed on fish, catching them from the surface layer of freshwater lakes. They rested and probably nested in trees growing near the basin. When moving in the tree canopy, they used the second digit of the wing, free from an alula and equipped with a well-developed claw. Unable to take off from the ground, they used the fourth digit of the forearm, which was free from feathers, for climbing tree trunks. A pair of elongated caudal feathers (rectrices) were probably used to attract mates.

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    A. V. Zinoviev

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Original Russian Text © A.V. Zinoviev, 2009, published in Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 2009, No. 4, pp. 83–91.

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Zinoviev, A.V. An attempt to reconstruct the lifestyle of confuciusornithids (Aves, Confuciusornithiformes). Paleontol. J. 43, 444–452 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030109040145

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