Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31664115›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2019

A mid-Cretaceous enantiornithine foot and tail feather preserved in Burmese amber.

Lida Xing, Ryan C McKellar, Jingmai K O'Connor, Kecheng Niu, Huijuan Mai

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Insights into the early evolution of modern avian physiology from fossilized soft tissues from the Mesozoic.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Lida XingState Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, China. xinglida@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3923-9206
Ryan C McKellarRoyal Saskatchewan Museum, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4P 4W7, Canada. ryan.mckellar@gov.sk.ca.
Jingmai K O'ConnorKey Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing, 100044, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3898-8283
Kecheng NiuYingliang Stone Nature History Museum, Nan'an, 362300, China.
Huijuan MaiYunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan, 650091, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Since the first skeletal remains of avians preserved in amber were described in 2016, new avian remains trapped in Cretaceous-age Burmese amber continue to be uncovered, revealing a diversity of skeletal and feather morphologies observed nowhere else in the Mesozoic fossil record. Here we describe a foot with digital proportions unlike any previously described enantiornithine or Mesozoic bird. No bones are preserved in the new specimen but the outline of the foot is recorded in a detailed skin surface, which is surrounded by feather inclusions including a partial rachis-dominated feather. Pedal proportions and plumage support identification as an enantiornithine, but unlike previous discoveries the toes are stout with transversely elongated digital pads, and the outer toe appears strongly thickened relative to the inner two digits. The new specimen increases the known diversity and morphological disparity among the Enantiornithes, hinting at a wider range of habitats and behaviours. It also suggests that the Burmese amber avifauna was distinct from other Mesozoic assemblages, with amber entrapment including representatives from unusual small forms.

Indexed as

AmberBirdsBody RemainsFeathersFootFossilsAnimalsMyanmarAmber

Identifiers

PMID31664115
PMCPMC6820775

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.