Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 9, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07621-z
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41688103]
- NSF [EAR 0207744]
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Medullary bone is an ephemeral type of bone tissue, today found only in sexually mature female birds, that provides a calcium reservoir for eggshell formation. The presence of medullary bone-like tissues in extant birds, pterosaurs, and dinosaurs distantly related to birds shows that caution must be exercised before concluding that fossils bear medullary bone. Here we describe a new specimen of pengornithid enantiornithine from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation. Consisting of an isolated left hindlimb, the three-dimensional preservation contrasts with the crushed preservation characteristic of most Jehol specimens. Histological examinations suggest this resulted from the presence of a thick layer of highly vascular bone spanning the medullary cavities of the femur and tibiotarsus, consistent with expectations for medullary bone in extant birds. Micro-computed tomographic scans reveal small amounts of the same tissue extending into the pedal phalanges. We consider the tissue to be homologous to the medullary bone of Neornithines.
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