How ignorant I am! I'd never heard of the term 'paleoflamingo' (extinct flamingo/phoenicopterid) until I read this paper by Grellet-Tinner et al. (2012), but now it's my favourite word of the week. But I'm having trouble finding any other papers using the word 'paleoflamingo', so I wonder whether these authors are trying to introduce a new term? And I'm also wondering why they didn't just stick with phoenicopterid...
Moving on, the paper itself describes a fossilised paleoflamingo twig nest from the Early Miocene of Spain, containing five eggs lying in-situ (in their 'real life' position in the nest). This is the first record of a fossil avian dinosaur twig nest, due to the fragile nature of such nests normally resulting in non-preservation. So, thank you taphonomic processes that allowed for the preservation of this nest!
Moving on, the paper itself describes a fossilised paleoflamingo twig nest from the Early Miocene of Spain, containing five eggs lying in-situ (in their 'real life' position in the nest). This is the first record of a fossil avian dinosaur twig nest, due to the fragile nature of such nests normally resulting in non-preservation. So, thank you taphonomic processes that allowed for the preservation of this nest!
In Figures A and B, you can see the eggshells in the nest (darker colour brown is eggshell). The dark grey material in Figure B and C is the twigs that made up the nest, and Figure D shows a tibiotarsus (lower leg bone) in cross-section from a paleoflamingo hatchling.
References
Grellet-Tinner, G., Murelaga, X., Larrasoaña, J.C., Silveira, L.F., Olivares, M., et al. 2012. The First Occurrence in the Fossil Record of an Aquatic Avian Twig-Nest with Phoenicopteriformes Eggs: Evolutionary Implications. PLoS ONE 7(10): e46972. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0046972
Grellet-Tinner, G., Murelaga, X., Larrasoaña, J.C., Silveira, L.F., Olivares, M., et al. 2012. The First Occurrence in the Fossil Record of an Aquatic Avian Twig-Nest with Phoenicopteriformes Eggs: Evolutionary Implications. PLoS ONE 7(10): e46972. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0046972
