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Re: [dinosaur] RETRACTION: Oculudentavis, new smallest known Mesozoic bird in amber from Cretaceous of Myanmar

The name remains valid by ICZN rules, the phylogenetic position of a taxon is not relevant to its basic validity. 

GSPaul

-----Original Message-----
From: Tyler Greenfield <tgreenfield999@gmail.com>
To: Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com>; dinosaur-l@usc.edu
Sent: Wed, Jul 22, 2020 2:55 pm
Subject: Re: [dinosaur] RETRACTION: Oculudentavis, new smallest known Mesozoic bird in amber from Cretaceous of Myanmar

How will this retraction affect the nomenclature? Will the name Oculudentavis be treated as never having been published?

On Wed, Jul 22, 2020 at 11:41 AM Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com> wrote:
A note retracting the original paper (which was a Nature cover story and featured in official online videos):

Free pdf:

Lida Xing, Jingmai K. OâConnor, Lars Schmitz, Luis M. Chiappe, Ryan C. McKellar, Qiru Yi & Gang Li (2020)
Retraction Note: Hummingbird-sized dinosaur from the Cretaceous period of Myanmar
Nature (advance online publication)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2553-9
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2553-9

Free pdf:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2553-9.pdf

The original article was published on 11 March 2020

Retraction to: Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2068-4 Published online 11 March 2020

We, the authors, are retracting this Article to prevent inaccurate information from remaining in the literature. Although the description of Oculudentavis khaungraae remains accurate, a new unpublished specimen casts doubts upon our hypothesis regarding the phylogenetic position of HPG-15-3.

On Wed, Mar 11, 2020 at 3:10 PM Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com> wrote:

Ben Creisler

A new bird:

(Sorry for the delay in posting. There was a major power outage in my neighborhood that began last night and just ended. No computer, no internet, no hot food...)

Oculudentavis khaungraae gen. et sp. nov. 

Lida Xing, Jingmai K. OâConnor, Lars Schmitz, Luis M. Chiappe, Ryan C. McKellar, Qiru Yi & Gang Li (2020)
Hummingbird-sized dinosaur from the Cretaceous period of Myanmar.
Nature 579:245â249
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2068-4
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2068-4


Skeletal inclusions in approximately 99-million-year-old amber from northern Myanmar provide unprecedented insights into the soft tissue and skeletal anatomy of minute fauna, which are not typically preserved in other depositional environments. Among a diversity of vertebrates, seven specimens that preserve the skeletal remains of enantiornithine birds have previously been described, all of which (including at least one seemingly mature specimen) are smaller than specimens recovered from lithic materials. Here we describe an exceptionally well-preserved and diminutive bird-like skull that documents a new species, which we name Oculudentavis khaungraae gen. et sp. nov. The find appears to represent the smallest known dinosaur of the Mesozoic era, rivalling the bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae)--the smallest living bird--in size. The O. khaungraae specimen preserves features that hint at miniaturization constraints, including a unique pattern of cranial fusion and an autapomorphic ocular morphology that resembles the eyes of lizards. The conically arranged scleral ossicles define a small pupil, indicative of diurnal activity. Miniaturization most commonly arises in isolated environments, and the diminutive size of Oculudentavis is therefore consistent with previous suggestions that this amber formed on an island within the Trans-Tethyan arc10. The size and morphology of this species suggest a previously unknown bauplan, and a previously undetected ecology. This discovery highlights the potential of amber deposits to reveal the lowest limits of vertebrate body size.
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