Surprise Hummingbird Fossil Sets Experts Abuzz

摘要

If it's hummingbirds you're after, the New World is the only place to be. Of the 300-plus species of the hovering, nectar-sipping birds, almost all live in Central and South America. Experts agree that all species of modern hummingbirds evolved there and later spread to North America, but it appeared they had never set wing in Eurasia. Now, fragile bones in 30-million-year-old rocks from southern Germany show that hummingbirds were much farther-flung than anyone expected. "The amazing thing about this fossil is that it's essentially a modern hummingbird," says Margaret Rubega of the University of Connecticut, Storrs. "My mind is a little blown."