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about two feet tall
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Fun facts
Its fossil was discovered in 1992 but was not officially named until 2018.1
Mirarce had quill knobs on its ulna bone, which are bumps that help anchor flight feathers. This is the first time such knobs have been found in enantiornithine birds.21
It had a deeply keeled sternum (breastbone) and a narrow furcula (wishbone), features that improved its flight abilities.2
Mirarce lived during the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous, about 76 to 74 million years ago.1
Its name combines Latin 'mirus' (wonderful) and the Greek messenger Arke, referring to its well-preserved flight-related features.1
Most asked questions about Mirarce
?Was Mirarce a dinosaur?
Yes, Mirarce was a bird, and birds are a type of dinosaur called avialan theropods. So it was a dinosaur, but not a non-avian dinosaur like T. rex.1
?How big was Mirarce?
Mirarce was about the size of a turkey vulture, growing to around 60 cm tall. It weighed about 0.45 kg.13
?What did Mirarce eat?
Mirarce was a raptorial predator, meaning it hunted and ate other animals. It had powerful talons and leg tendons, similar to modern birds of prey.1
?When did Mirarce live?
Mirarce lived during the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous, about 76 to 74 million years ago.1
Ask Rex about Mirarce
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Mirarce
- Named by
- Atterholt et al. 20184
- Group
- Early birds
- Family / clade
- Avisauridae4
- Classification
- Theropoda > Avialae4
- Age of the rocks
- 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)4
- Rock formations
- Kaiparowits4
- Countries
- USA4
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- The fossil was collected in 1992 by Howard Hutchison in Utah. It was studied and named by Jesse Atterholt and colleagues in 2018, who called it Mirarce eatoni in honor of paleontologist Jeffrey Eaton.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating how enantiornithine birds like Mirarce compare to modern birds in terms of flight abilities and evolutionary relationships.2
Where the facts come from
- Mirarce (en.wikipedia.org)
- The most complete enantiornithine from North America and a phylogenetic analysis of the Avisauridae (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Rare fossil bird deepens mystery of avian extinctions (vcresearch.berkeley.edu)
- Mirarce in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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