UK Mesozoic birds (was RE: Dinosaurs and birds)

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Anthony Docimo
>
> This conversation ("dinosaurs and birds") has started me wondering
> again....were there any Mesozoic-era birds (by any definition - anything
> closer than *Eotyrannus* is good) in the United Kingdom?
>

Okay, that is WAY too broad a definition for me... I'll stick with Avialae here.

The answer is: yes, of course there were. There wasn't some "flight-free zone" 
over that particular corner of Laurasia.

However, if your question is "what Mesozoic Era birds are KNOWN from British 
fossils", it get's more limited.

_Enaliornis_, a primitive (maybe even volant??) member of the hesperornithiform 
lineage is known from the Albian of Cambridge (or
pretty darn close, at least).

Beyond that, I don't know if there are any named avialians from the Cretaceous 
of Britain. However, it would be rather unlikely if
the Iberian Barremian birds (_Iberomesornis_, _Concornis_, etc.) didn't also 
like in Britain, too.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
        Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
        Mailing Address:
                Building 237, Room 1117
                College Park, MD  20742

http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
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