Paleontologists Reconstruct Cretaceous Bird in Remarkable Detail | Sci.News
Concornis lacustris, a small enantiornithine bird that lived alongside dinosaurs more than 100 million years ago, has received a life-size makeover, thanks to a reconstruction that combines fossil evidence, digital modeling and traditional sculpture.
Concornis lacustris lived in what is now Europe approximately 125 million years ago (Early Cretaceous epoch).
The species belonged to Enantiornithes, an extinct group of birds that flourished during the Cretaceous but disappeared in the mass extinction that killed off the non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
Its fossil, found at the site of Las Hoyas in Cuenca, Spain, and initially described in 1992, has long been a source of information for paleontologists.
“The holotype of Concornis lacustris provided fundamental anatomical data for understanding the evolution of small Mesozoic birds,” said Universidad Complutense de Madrid’s Dr. Víctor Peco and Dr. Sergio Nebreda, who is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
“Furthermore, this species has been instrumental in detailing the active flight capabilities of these birds, revealing key aspects of their behavior and paleobiology.”
In their new paper, the researchers describe the creation of the first life-size, three-dimensional reconstruction of Concornis lacustris.
They worked the way anatomists and paleoartists often do, starting with the skeleton and adding layers of muscle and skin.
They built a digital model in the software Blender, based on published drawings and photographs of the fossil.
Because the skull and parts of the skeleton are missing, they borrowed from other early birds, including a well-preserved skull from Brazil and a skull from Las Hoyas itself.
The digital model was then 3D-printed in plastic, covered with sculpted epoxy putty and finished with oil paint.
Fine plastic filaments stand in for downy feathers, and the wing feathers were printed separately.
The authors based the feather count and shape on fossils from China and Spain, and on a modern bird, the wallcreeper (Tichodroma muraria), which flies in a similar way.
“The methodology developed in this study integrates digital tools, 3D printing, and traditional sculptural techniques, thereby optimizing the reconstruction process, facilitating its scientific review, and yielding anatomically consistent results with a high degree of realism,” they explained.
The holotype specimen of Concornis lacustris preserves no pigment, so the scientists drew on related fossils.
They gave it a dark brown back and wings with banded flight feathers, a pale underside, and an iridescent blue-green sheen on the head.
The sculpture has a wingspan of about 30 cm (12 inches) and a body approximately 13 cm (5 inches) long.
The model depicts the bird landing on a branch of Frenelopsis, a conifer that was abundant in the Las Hoyas ecosystem.
Its wings are extended, and its feathers are swept forward as the bird slows for landing.
“Our work seeks to deepen our understanding of Enantiornithes by integrating osteological, myological, and integumentary data derived from exceptionally preserved fossils,” the researchers said.
Their paper was published September 26 in the journal Earth History and Biodiversity.
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Víctor G. Peco & Sergio M. Nebreda. 2026. Scientific sculpture of the Mesozoic bird Concornis lacustris: Paleoart as an outreach resource. Earth History and Biodiversity 10: 100047; doi: 10.1016/j.hisbio.2026.100047