Pumiliornis

Pumiliornis tessellatus is an ancient bird from the Middle Eocene of Messel, Hesse, Germany. It is described as a wren-sized^[1] anisodactyl bird with a long, slender bill and strong hallux. Its species name tessellatus, meaning "mosaic" in Latin, is a reference to its unusual distribution of characters and uncertain phylogenetic placement.^[2][3] It has some anatomical affinities with Cuculiformes, but similar fossils that might be related to this taxon do not.^[4]

Pumiliornis Temporal range: Middle Eocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Clade:	Australaves
Family:	†Morsoravidae
Genus:	†Pumiliornis (Mayr, 1999)
Type species
†Pumiliornis tessellatus (Mayr, 1999)

In 2014, a new specimen of Pumiliornis was described that showed preserved stomach contents of pollen grains from a eudicotyledonous angiosperm, making it the earliest fossil evidence of flower-visiting behavior in birds.^[5]

References

1. Mayr, Gerald (2008). "Pumiliornis tessellatus MAYR, 1999 revisited - new data on the osteology and possible phylogenetic affinities of an enigmatic Middle Eocene bird". Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 82/3 (3): 247–253. doi:10.1007/BF02988891. S2CID 55757331.
2. Mayr, Gerald (1999). "Pumiliornis tessellatus n. gen. n. sp., a new enigmatic bird from the Middle Eocene of Grube Messel (Hessen, Germany)" (PDF). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg. 216: 75–83.
3. Mayr, Gerald (2009). Paleogene Birds. Springer. pp. 114–116. ISBN 978-3540896272.
4. Mayr, Gerald (2009). Paleogene Fossil Birds. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 115. ISBN 9783540896289.
5. Mayr, Gerald; Wilde, Volker (2014). "Eocene fossil is earliest evidence of flower-visiting by birds". Biology Letters. 10 (5): 20140223. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2014.0223. PMC 4046380. PMID 24872461.