{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,27]],"date-time":"2026-02-27T01:34:24Z","timestamp":1772156064747,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"The Royal Society","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,1]],"date-time":"2025-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1748736000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,1]],"date-time":"2025-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1748736000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ewige Mitglieder of Senckenberg Gesellschaft f\u00fcr Naturforschung"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["royalsocietypublishing.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["R. Soc. Open Sci."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    We report the skull of a new avian species from the latest early or earliest middle Eocene fossil site Messel in Germany.\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Aenigmatorhynchus rarus,<\/jats:italic>\n                    gen. et sp. nov. is characterized by a long, straight, and pointed beak, as well as a mandible with prominent processus coronoidei, a very long symphysis, closely adjacent cristae tomiales, and a narrow dorsal sulcus along the tip. This unusual character mosaic impedes a straightforward phylogenetic assignment. In its proportions, the mandible is superficially similar to that of extant stilts (\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Himantopus<\/jats:italic>\n                    , Recurvirostridae) and oystercatchers (\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Haematopus<\/jats:italic>\n                    , Haematopodidae), but some features preclude an assignment of\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Ae. rarus<\/jats:italic>\n                    to these and other charadriiform taxa. The ventral ossification of the rostrum suggests comparisons with long-beaked taxa of the Aequornithes and Telluraves, but again several features conflict with a position of\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Ae. rarus<\/jats:italic>\n                    within either of these clades. Even though an unambiguous phylogenetic placement is not possible, the new fossil expands the avifauna of the Messel site and exhibits a distinctive beak morphology, which is not found in extant birds and indicates a specialized foraging behaviour as yet unknown in birds.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1098\/rsos.250620","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,24]],"date-time":"2025-06-24T19:11:17Z","timestamp":1750792277000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A remarkable beak morphology in a bird skull from the Eocene of Messel (Germany) signifies unusual feeding specializations"],"prefix":"10.1098","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9808-748X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Gerald","family":"Mayr","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Ornithological Section, Senckenberg Research Institute Frankfurt","place":["Frankfurt am Main, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1442-2944","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Krister","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Messel Research and Mammalogy, Senckenberg Research Institute Frankfurt","place":["Frankfurt am Main, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"175","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_8_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/brv.12274"},{"key":"e_1_3_8_3_2","first-page":"169","volume-title":"Messel: an ancient greenhouse ecosystem","author":"Mayr G","year":"2018","unstructured":"Mayr G. 2018 Birds: the most species-rich vertebrate group in Messel. In Messel: an ancient greenhouse ecosystem (eds S Schaal, K Smith, J Habersetzer), pp. 169\u2013214. Stuttgart, Germany: Schweitzerbart."},{"key":"e_1_3_8_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12549-024-00633-2"},{"key":"e_1_3_8_5_2","first-page":"67","article-title":"A numerical age for the Messel fossil deposit (UNESCO World Heritage Site) derived from 40Ar\/39Ar dating on a basaltic rock fragment","volume":"255","author":"Mertz DF","year":"2005","unstructured":"Mertz DF, Renne PR. 2005 A numerical age for the Messel fossil deposit (UNESCO World Heritage Site) derived from 40Ar\/39Ar dating on a basaltic rock fragment. Cour. Forsch. Inst. Senckenberg 255, 67\u201375.","journal-title":"Cour. Forsch. Inst. 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