Such fossils include the bones of a duck-like species named Vegavis, which were found in 66.5-million-year-old rocks of the Antarctic Peninsula and described in 2005.

A recent study found a nearly complete skull in Antarctica that may belong to an ancient ancestor of ducks and geese called Vegavis iaai. This species lived around 68 million years ago, during the ...

A recent study found a nearly complete skull in Antarctica that may belong to an ancient ancestor of ducks and geese called Vegavis iaai. This species lived around 68 million years ago. It could ...

Known as Vegavis iaai, the bird thrived in late-Cretaceous Antarctica, then a tropical paradise. About a million years before the asteroid that wiped out 75% of life on Earth, it went extinct.

A 68-million-year-old Antarctic fossil revealed the oldest known modern bird, Vegavis iaai, a duck-sized diver with traits linking it to today’s waterfowl. Read the full story here ...

A 68-million-year-old Antarctic fossil revealed the oldest known modern bird, Vegavis iaai, a duck-sized diver with traits linking it to today’s waterfowl. A fossil unearthed in Antarctica has ...

For decades, scientists have wondered at the taxonomy of Vegavis iaai— an ancient avian specimen that lived in what is now Antarctica during the late Cretaceous period. A new study, in which ...

Previous Vegavis fossil specimens also lacked a complete skull, informed study coauthor Patrick O’Connor, a professor of anatomical sciences at Ohio University.

Vegavis had powerful jaw muscles, evidenced by deep temporal fossae (depressions in the skull where jaw muscles attached) and a narrow, pointed beak perfect for catching prey underwater. This ...

Vegavis was first described two decades ago, at which time it was argued to be an early member of the modern birds—but more recent analyses cast doubt on this suggestion.

Scientists identify Vegavis iaai, a 69 million-year-old bird from Antarctica, as the oldest-known relative of modern birds, shedding light on avian evolution.