Toothy Tale Wings and teeth

A newly discovered bird of the dinosaur age, identified from a fossil, had some of the most elaborate teeth ever seen in a bird, scientists say.
What makes it all the more interesting, they add, is that this bird flourished at a time when other bird species had already begun an evolutionary journey toward toothlessness.
"Maybe differences in diet played a part" in explaining the unusual features of the species, said Jingmai O'Connor of the University of Southern California, lead author of a new study on the findings.
Published in the latest issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, the analysis suggests the animal, called Sulcavis geeorum, lived on a tough diet that may have included crabs. The researchers believe the teeth of the new specimen greatly increase the known diversity of tooth shape in early birds, and hints at previously unrecognized ecological diversity.
The fossil hails from the early Cretaceous era, an estimated 121-125 million years ago, from what is now Liaoning Province, China. The bird is believed to a member of a lineage known as Enantiornithines, the most numerous birds from the time of the dinosaur.