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Cretaceous origins of the vibrotactile bill-tip organ in birds

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du Toit, C. J., Chinsamy, A., Cunningham, S. J.·2020·Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
DOI 10.1098/rspb.2020.2322PMC PMC7739938
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Abstract

Some probe-foraging birds locate their buried prey by detecting mechanical vibrations in the substrate using a specialized tactile bill-tip organ comprising mechanoreceptors embedded in densely clustered pits in the bone at the tip of their beak. This remarkable sensory modality is known as ‘remote touch’, and the associated bill-tip organ is found in probe-foraging taxa belonging to both the palaeognathous (in kiwi) and neognathous (in ibises and shorebirds) clades of modern birds. Intriguingly, a structurally similar bill-tip organ is also present in the beaks of extant, non-probing palaeognathous birds (e.g. emu and ostriches) that do not use remote touch. By comparison with our comprehensive sample representing all orders of extant modern birds (Neornithes), we provide evidence that the lithornithids (the most basal known palaeognathous birds which evolved in the Cretaceous period) had the ability to use remote touch. This finding suggests that the occurrence of the vestigial bony bill-tip organ in all modern non-probing palaeognathous birds represents a plesiomorphic condition. Furthermore, our results show that remote-touch probe foraging evolved very early among the Neornithes and it may even have predated the palaeognathous–neognathous divergence. We postulate that the tactile bony bill-tip organ in Neornithes may have originated from other snout tactile specializations of their non-avian theropod ancestors.

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  • The bill-tip organ is a sensory structure located at the tip of the rostrum in many living birds that increases sensory discrimination and facilitates adaptation of the rostrum to perform a diversity of complex oral tasks from probing to seed husking.

    “The bill-tip organ is a sensory structure located at the tip of the rostrum in many living birds that increases sensory discrimination and facilitates adaptation of the rostrum to perform a diversity of complex oral tasks from probing to seed husking [87,”

    From The ecology of Archaeopteryx (2026) · cites this paper as [88]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
du Toit, C. J., Chinsamy, A., & Cunningham, S. J.
Affiliations
  • FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
  • University of Cape Town (ZA)
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publisher
The Royal Society
Published
2020-12-02
Volume
287
Issue
1940
Pages
20202322
ISSN
  • 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
  • 0962-8452
  • 1471-2954
DOI
10.1098/rspb.2020.2322
PMC
PMC7739938
OpenAlex
W3107498347
Cited by
30
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1
FWCI
2.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Research Foundation (117716)
  • DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences (Doctoral bursary)
  • FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Urology › Comparative Animal Anatomy Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
Keywords
Cretaceous birds, Neornithes, mechanoreceptors, plesiomorphic condition, kiwi, ibises, shorebirds
MeSH terms
Animals, Beak, Birds, Biological Evolution, Feeding Behavior, Mechanoreceptors, Touch, Vibration

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