Introduction – Company Background

GuangXin Industrial Co., Ltd. is a specialized manufacturer dedicated to the development and production of high-quality insoles.

With a strong foundation in material science and footwear ergonomics, we serve as a trusted partner for global brands seeking reliable insole solutions that combine comfort, functionality, and design.

With years of experience in insole production and OEM/ODM services, GuangXin has successfully supported a wide range of clients across various industries—including sportswear, health & wellness, orthopedic care, and daily footwear.

From initial prototyping to mass production, we provide comprehensive support tailored to each client’s market and application needs.

At GuangXin, we are committed to quality, innovation, and sustainable development. Every insole we produce reflects our dedication to precision craftsmanship, forward-thinking design, and ESG-driven practices.

By integrating eco-friendly materials, clean production processes, and responsible sourcing, we help our partners meet both market demand and environmental goals.

Core Strengths in Insole Manufacturing

At GuangXin Industrial, our core strength lies in our deep expertise and versatility in insole and pillow manufacturing. We specialize in working with a wide range of materials, including PU (polyurethane), natural latex, and advanced graphene composites, to develop insoles and pillows that meet diverse performance, comfort, and health-support needs.

Whether it's cushioning, support, breathability, or antibacterial function, we tailor material selection to the exact requirements of each project-whether for foot wellness or ergonomic sleep products.

We provide end-to-end manufacturing capabilities under one roof—covering every stage from material sourcing and foaming, to precision molding, lamination, cutting, sewing, and strict quality control. This full-process control not only ensures product consistency and durability, but also allows for faster lead times and better customization flexibility.

With our flexible production capacity, we accommodate both small batch custom orders and high-volume mass production with equal efficiency. Whether you're a startup launching your first insole or pillow line, or a global brand scaling up to meet market demand, GuangXin is equipped to deliver reliable OEM/ODM solutions that grow with your business.

Customization & OEM/ODM Flexibility

GuangXin offers exceptional flexibility in customization and OEM/ODM services, empowering our partners to create insole products that truly align with their brand identity and target market. We develop insoles tailored to specific foot shapes, end-user needs, and regional market preferences, ensuring optimal fit and functionality.

Our team supports comprehensive branding solutions, including logo printing, custom packaging, and product integration support for marketing campaigns. Whether you're launching a new product line or upgrading an existing one, we help your vision come to life with attention to detail and consistent brand presentation.

With fast prototyping services and efficient lead times, GuangXin helps reduce your time-to-market and respond quickly to evolving trends or seasonal demands. From concept to final production, we offer agile support that keeps you ahead of the competition.

Quality Assurance & Certifications

Quality is at the heart of everything we do. GuangXin implements a rigorous quality control system at every stage of production—ensuring that each insole meets the highest standards of consistency, comfort, and durability.

We provide a variety of in-house and third-party testing options, including antibacterial performance, odor control, durability testing, and eco-safety verification, to meet the specific needs of our clients and markets.

Our products are fully compliant with international safety and environmental standards, such as REACH, RoHS, and other applicable export regulations. This ensures seamless entry into global markets while supporting your ESG and product safety commitments.

ESG-Oriented Sustainable Production

At GuangXin Industrial, we are committed to integrating ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) values into every step of our manufacturing process. We actively pursue eco-conscious practices by utilizing eco-friendly materials and adopting low-carbon production methods to reduce environmental impact.

To support circular economy goals, we offer recycled and upcycled material options, including innovative applications such as recycled glass and repurposed LCD panel glass. These materials are processed using advanced techniques to retain performance while reducing waste—contributing to a more sustainable supply chain.

We also work closely with our partners to support their ESG compliance and sustainability reporting needs, providing documentation, traceability, and material data upon request. Whether you're aiming to meet corporate sustainability targets or align with global green regulations, GuangXin is your trusted manufacturing ally in building a better, greener future.

Let’s Build Your Next Insole Success Together

Looking for a reliable insole manufacturing partner that understands customization, quality, and flexibility? GuangXin Industrial Co., Ltd. specializes in high-performance insole production, offering tailored solutions for brands across the globe. Whether you're launching a new insole collection or expanding your existing product line, we provide OEM/ODM services built around your unique design and performance goals.

From small-batch custom orders to full-scale mass production, our flexible insole manufacturing capabilities adapt to your business needs. With expertise in PU, latex, and graphene insole materials, we turn ideas into functional, comfortable, and market-ready insoles that deliver value.

Contact us today to discuss your next insole project. Let GuangXin help you create custom insoles that stand out, perform better, and reflect your brand’s commitment to comfort, quality, and sustainability.

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Indonesia pillow OEM manufacturer

Are you looking for a trusted and experienced manufacturing partner that can bring your comfort-focused product ideas to life? GuangXin Industrial Co., Ltd. is your ideal OEM/ODM supplier, specializing in insole production, pillow manufacturing, and advanced graphene product design.

With decades of experience in insole OEM/ODM, we provide full-service manufacturing—from PU and latex to cutting-edge graphene-infused insoles—customized to meet your performance, support, and breathability requirements. Our production process is vertically integrated, covering everything from material sourcing and foaming to molding, cutting, and strict quality control.Graphene sheet OEM supplier Taiwan

Beyond insoles, GuangXin also offers pillow OEM/ODM services with a focus on ergonomic comfort and functional innovation. Whether you need memory foam, latex, or smart material integration for neck and sleep support, we deliver tailor-made solutions that reflect your brand’s values.

We are especially proud to lead the way in ESG-driven insole development. Through the use of recycled materials—such as repurposed LCD glass—and low-carbon production processes, we help our partners meet sustainability goals without compromising product quality. Our ESG insole solutions are designed not only for comfort but also for compliance with global environmental standards.Taiwan sustainable material ODM production base

At GuangXin, we don’t just manufacture products—we create long-term value for your brand. Whether you're developing your first product line or scaling up globally, our flexible production capabilities and collaborative approach will help you go further, faster.Vietnam eco-friendly graphene material processing

📩 Contact us today to learn how our insole OEM, pillow ODM, and graphene product design services can elevate your product offering—while aligning with the sustainability expectations of modern consumers.Taiwan sustainable material ODM solutions

Ferns are vascular plants that reproduce through spores and do not have seeds or flowers. A New Study Reveals Ferns’ History of DNA Hoarding and Kleptomania Ferns are infamous for having an enormous number of chromosomes and massive amounts of DNA. A fern no larger than a dinner plate currently holds the record for the highest chromosome count, with 720 pairs packed into each of its nuclei. Scientists have been baffled by ferns’ tendency to hoard DNA, and the intractable size of their genomes has made it challenging to sequence, assemble, and interpret them. Now, two articles recently published in the journal Nature Plants are rewriting history with the first full-length genomes for homosporous ferns, a huge group that encompasses 99% of all modern fern diversity. “Every genome tells a different story,” said co-author Doug Soltis, a distinguished professor with the Florida Museum of Natural History. “Ferns are the closest living relatives of all seed plants, and they produce chemical deterrents to herbivores that may be useful for agricultural research. Yet until now, they’ve remained the last major lineage of green life without a genome sequence.” Analysis of the Ceratopteris genome provides hints for solving the long-standing mystery of why ferns, on average, retain more DNA than other plants. Comparisons to genomes from other groups also led to the surprise discovery that ferns stole the genes for several of their anti-herbivory toxins from bacteria. Credit: David Randall, Western Sydney University Recently, two different research teams independently published the genomes of the flying spider monkey tree fern (Alsophila spinulosa) and Ceratopteris (Ceratopteris richardii). The Ceratopteris genome analysis provides hints for answering the long-standing puzzle of why ferns store more DNA than other plants on average. Comparisons to other species’ genomes revealed that ferns stole the genes for some of their anti-herbivory toxins from bacteria. The Ceratopteris Genome Bucks a Decades-Old Theory, Leaving More Questions Than Answers Since the 1960s, the most favored explanation for why ferns contain so much DNA invoked rampant whole-genome duplications, in which an extra set of chromosomes is accidentally passed on to an organism’s offspring. This can sometimes be beneficial, as all the extra genes can then be used as raw material for the evolution of new traits. In fact, whole-genome duplication has been implicated in the origin of nearly all crop plants. Ceratopteris richardii is extensively used in both research and education for a variety of reasons, including the quick rate at which it completes its lifecycle. Credit: Marchant et al., 2022 in Nature Plants Whole-genome duplication is common in plants and even some animals, but most organisms tend to jettison the extra genetic baggage over time, slimming back down to smaller genomes that are metabolically easier to maintain. “This has been a major point of discussion for the last half-century and has led to all kinds of conflicting results,” said lead author Blaine Marchant, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University and former Florida Museum graduate student. “Trying to figure out the evolutionary process underlying this paradox is incredibly important.” With the first fully assembled homosporous fern genomes, scientists were finally prepared to address this question, but getting there wasn’t easy. Sequencing the large, complex genome of Ceratopteris took over eight years of work and the combined effort of dozens of researchers from 28 institutions around the world, including the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute. The final result was 7.46 gigabases of DNA, more than double the size of the human genome. If Ceratopteris had bulked up on DNA through repeated genome duplication events, researchers expected large portions of its 39 chromosome pairs would be identical. What they found instead was a mixed bag of repetitive sequences and millions of short snippets called jumping genes, which accounted for 85% of the fern’s DNA. Rather than multiple genome copies, Ceratopteris mostly contains genetic debris accumulated over millions of years. “The functional genes are separated by large amounts of repetitive DNA. And although we’re not yet sure how the Ceratopteris and other fern genomes got so big, it’s clear that the prevailing view of repeated episodes of genome duplication is not supported,” said co-author Pam Soltis, a Florida Museum curator and distinguished professor. The authors note that it’s too early to make any firm conclusions, especially since this is the first analysis of its scope conducted in this group. Cross comparisons with additional fern genomes down the road will help paint a clearer picture of how these plants evolved. Still, the results point to a clear difference in the way homosporous ferns manage their genetic content compared to almost all other plants, Marchant said. “What we seem to be finding is that things like flowering plants, which on average have much smaller genomes than ferns, are just better at getting rid of junk DNA. They’re better at dropping spare chromosomes and even downsizing after small duplications.” Ferns Repeatedly Stole Toxins From Bacteria A closer look at the billions of DNA base pairs within Ceratopteris revealed multiple defense genes that code for a particularly sinister type of pore-forming toxin. These toxins bind to cells, where they become activated and form small, hollow rings that punch their way into the cellular membrane. Water floods into the cells through the resulting holes, causing them to rupture. Pore-forming toxins have been intensively studied by scientists for their potential use in nanopore technology, Marchant explained. Most often, however, they’re found in bacteria. “This is the first concrete evidence of these bacterial toxin-related genes within fern DNA,” Marchant said, noting that the similarity isn’t a coincidence. Rather than evolving this toxin on its own, Ceratopteris appears to have obtained it directly from bacteria through a process called horizontal gene transfer. And given that there were multiple copies of the gene spread out among three separate chromosomes, it’s likely this happened more than once. “What’s fascinating is that the many copies of these genes show up in different parts of the plant,” he said. “Some are highly expressed in the stem and roots, while other copies are expressed solely in the leaves, and others are generally expressed across all tissues. We cannot be sure of the exact function of these genes at this point, but their similarity to the toxin-forming genes in bacteria certainly suggests these genes are defense-related.” This wouldn’t be the first time ferns have incorporated foreign DNA into their genomes. A 2014 study indicates ferns may have evolved their characteristic ability to grow in shady environments by borrowing genes from distantly related plants. However, exactly how organisms separated by millions of years of evolution are able to swap fully functional genes remains unclear. “The mechanisms behind horizontal gene transfer remain one of the least investigated areas of land plant evolution,” Doug Soltis explained. “Over evolutionary timescales, it’s a bit like winning the lottery. Any time a plant is wounded, its interior is susceptible to invasion from microbes, but for their DNA to be incorporated into the genome seems amazing.” The authors say this is merely the first step in a long series of studies with practical applications ranging from the development of novel biopesticides to innovative new conservation strategies. References: “Dynamic genome evolution in a model fern” by D. Blaine Marchant, Guang Chen, Shengguan Cai, Fei Chen, Peter Schafran, Jerry Jenkins, Shengqiang Shu, Chris Plott, Jenell Webber, John T. Lovell, Guifen He, Laura Sandor, Melissa Williams, Shanmugam Rajasekar, Adam Healey, Kerrie Barry, Yinwen Zhang, Emily Sessa, Rijan R. Dhakal, Paul G. Wolf, Alex Harkess, Fay-Wei Li, Clemens Rössner, Annette Becker, Lydia Gramzow, Dawei Xue, Yuhuan Wu, Tao Tong, Yuanyuan Wang, Fei Dai, Shuijin Hua, Hua Wang, Shengchun Xu, Fei Xu, Honglang Duan, Günter Theißen, Michael R. McKain, Zheng Li, Michael T. W. McKibben, Michael S. Barker, Robert J. Schmitz, Dennis W. Stevenson, Cecilia Zumajo-Cardona, Barbara A. Ambrose, James H. Leebens-Mack, Jane Grimwood, Jeremy Schmutz, Pamela S. Soltis, Douglas E. Soltis and Zhong-Hua Chen, 1 September 2022, Nature Plants. DOI: 10.1038/s41477-022-01226-7 “The flying spider-monkey tree fern genome provides insights into fern evolution and arborescence” by Xiong Huang, Wenling Wang, Ting Gong, David Wickell, Li-Yaung Kuo, Xingtan Zhang, Jialong Wen, Hoon Kim, Fachuang Lu, Hansheng Zhao, Song Chen, Hui Li, Wenqi Wu, Changjiang Yu, Su Chen, Wei Fan, Shuai Chen, Xiuqi Bao, Li Li, Dan Zhang, Longyu Jiang, Xiaojing Yan, Zhenyang Liao, Gongke Zhou, Yalong Guo, John Ralph, Ronald R. Sederoff, Hairong Wei, Ping Zhu, Fay-Wei Li, Ray Ming and Quanzi Li, 9 May 2022, Nature Plants. DOI: 10.1038/s41477-022-01146-6 “Horizontal transfer of an adaptive chimeric photoreceptor from bryophytes to ferns” by Fay-Wei Li, Juan Carlos Villarreal, Steven Kelly, Carl J. Rothfels, Michael Melkonian, Eftychios Frangedakis, Markus Ruhsam, Erin M. Sigel, Joshua P. Der, Jarmila Pittermann, Dylan O. Burge, Lisa Pokorny, Anders Larsson, Tao Chen, Stina Weststrand, Philip Thomas, Eric Carpenter, Yong Zhang, Zhijian Tian, Li Chen, Zhixiang Yan, Ying Zhu, Xiao Sun, Jun Wang, Dennis W. Stevenson, Barbara J. Crandall-Stotler, A. Jonathan Shaw, Michael K. Deyholos, Douglas E. Soltis, Sean W. Graham, Michael D. Windham, Jane A. Langdale, Gane Ka-Shu Wong, Sarah Mathews and Kathleen M. Pryer, 14 April 2014, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1319929111 Several of the authors are involved in the current effort to sequence the genomes of all known eukaryotic organisms within a 10-year time frame. Called the Earth Biogenome Project, the endeavor will generate untold genomic resources that researchers will have their hands full analyzing for the foreseeable future. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Australian Research Council, Horticulture Innovation Australia, the Ambrose Monell Foundation, the Key R&D Program of Zhejiang Province, the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China, and the China Agriculture Research System.

A new study indicates that human evolutionary traits, especially cultural adaptation, could hinder solving global environmental problems, such as climate change. It highlights the need for innovative global governance strategies and further research into overcoming the evolutionary challenges to environmental sustainability. Credit: SciTechDaily.com A new study led by the University of Maine suggests that inherent aspects of human evolution could hinder our ability to tackle global environmental issues such as climate change. Humans have come to dominate the planet with tools and systems to exploit natural resources that were refined over thousands of years through the process of cultural adaptation to the environment. University of Maine evolutionary biologist Tim Waring wanted to know how this process of cultural adaptation to the environment might influence the goal of solving global environmental problems. What he found was counterintuitive. The project sought to understand three core questions: how human evolution has operated in the context of environmental resources, how human evolution has contributed to the multiple global environmental crises, and how global environmental limits might change the outcomes of human evolution in the future. Tim Waring. Credit: Tim Waring Waring’s team outlined their findings in a new paper published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Other authors of the study include Zach Wood, UMaine alumni, and Eörs Szathmáry, a professor at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary. Human expansion The study explored how human societies’ use of the environment changed over our evolutionary history. The research team investigated changes in the ecological niche of human populations, including factors such as the natural resources they used, how intensively they were used, what systems and methods emerged to use those resources, and the environmental impacts that resulted from their usage. This effort revealed a set of common patterns. Over the last 100,000 years, human groups have progressively used more types of resources, with more intensity, at greater scales, and with greater environmental impacts. Those groups often then spread to new environments with new resources. The global human expansion was facilitated by the process of cultural adaptation to the environment. This leads to the accumulation of adaptive cultural traits — social systems and technology to help exploit and control environmental resources such as agricultural practices, fishing methods, irrigation infrastructure, energy technology, and social systems for managing each of these. “Human evolution is mostly driven by cultural change, which is faster than genetic evolution. That greater speed of adaptation has made it possible for humans to colonize all habitable land worldwide,” says Waring, associate professor with the UMaine Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions and the School of Economics. Moreover, this process accelerates because of a positive feedback process: as groups get larger, they accumulate adaptive cultural traits more rapidly, which provides more resources and enables faster growth. “For the last 100,000 years, this has been good news for our species as a whole.” Waring says, “But this expansion has depended on large amounts of available resources and space.” Today, humans have also run out of space. We have reached the physical limits of the biosphere and laid claim to most of the resources it has to offer. Our expansion also is catching up with us. Our cultural adaptations, particularly the industrial use of fossil fuels, have created dangerous global environmental problems that jeopardize our safety and access to future resources. Global limits To see what these findings mean for solving global challenges like climate change, the research team looked at when and how sustainable human systems emerged in the past. Waring and his colleagues found two general patterns. First, sustainable systems tend to grow and spread only after groups have struggled or failed to maintain their resources in the first place. For example, the U.S. regulated industrial sulfur and nitrogen dioxide emissions in 1990, but only after we had determined that they caused acid rain and acidified many water bodies in the Northeast. This delayed action presents a major problem today as we threaten other global limits. For climate change, humans need to solve the problem before we cause a crash. Second, researchers also found evidence that strong systems of environmental protection tend to address problems within existing societies, not between them. For example, managing regional water systems requires regional cooperation, regional infrastructure and technology, and these arise through regional cultural evolution. The presence of societies of the right scale is, therefore, a critical limiting factor. Tackling the climate crisis effectively will probably require new worldwide regulatory, economic, and social systems — ones that generate greater cooperation and authority than existing systems like the Paris Agreement. To establish and operate those systems, humans need a functional social system for the planet, which we don’t have. “One problem is that we don’t have a coordinated global society that could implement these systems,” says Waring, “We only have sub-global groups, which probably won’t suffice. But you can imagine cooperative treaties to address these shared challenges. So, that’s the easy problem.” The other problem is much worse, Waring says. In a world filled with sub-global groups, cultural evolution among these groups will tend to solve the wrong problems, benefitting the interests of nations and corporations and delaying action on shared priorities. Cultural evolution among groups would tend to exacerbate resource competition and could lead to direct conflict between groups and even global human dieback. “This means global challenges like climate change are much harder to solve than previously considered,” says Waring. “It’s not just that they are the hardest thing our species has ever done. They absolutely are. The bigger problem is that central features in human evolution are likely working against our ability to solve them. To solve global collective challenges we have to swim upstream.” Looking forward Waring and his colleagues think that their analysis can help navigate the future of human evolution on a limited Earth. Their paper is the first to propose that human evolution may oppose the emergence of collective global problems and further research is needed to develop and test this theory. Waring’s team proposes several applied research efforts to better understand the drivers of cultural evolution and search for ways to reduce global environmental competition, given how human evolution works. For example, research is needed to document the patterns and strength of human cultural evolution in the past and present. Studies could focus on the past processes that led to the human domination of the biosphere, and on the ways cultural adaptation to the environment is occurring today. But if the general outline proves to be correct, and human evolution tends to oppose collective solutions to global environmental problems, as the authors suggest, then some very pressing questions need to be answered. This includes whether we can use this knowledge to improve the global response to climate change. “There is hope, of course, that humans may solve climate change. We have built cooperative governance before, although never like this: in a rush at a global scale.” Waring says. The growth of international environmental policy provides some hope. Successful examples include the Montreal Protocol to limit ozone-depleting gasses, and the global moratorium on commercial whaling. New efforts should include fostering more intentional, peaceful, and ethical systems of mutual self-limitation, particularly through market regulations and enforceable treaties, that bind human groups across the planet together ever more tightly into a functional unit. But that model may not work for climate change. “Our paper explains why and how building cooperative governance at the global scale is different, and helps researchers and policymakers be more clear-headed about how to work toward global solutions,” says Waring. This new research could lead to a novel policy mechanism to address the climate crisis: modifying the process of adaptive change among corporations and nations may be a powerful way to address global environmental risks. As for whether humans can continue to survive on a limited planet, Waring says “We don’t have any solutions for this idea of a long-term evolutionary trap, as we barely understand the problem.” says Waring. “If our conclusions are even close to being correct, we need to study this much more carefully,” he says. Reference: “Characteristic processes of human evolution caused the Anthropocene and may obstruct its global solutions” by Timothy M. Waring, Zachary T. Wood and Eörs Szathmáry, 1 January 2024, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0259 CopyClose

An illustration of Longipteryx, a fossil bird with unusually strong teeth right at the tip of its beak. Credit: Illustration by Ville Sinkkonen Researchers have discovered fossilized seeds in the stomach of Longipteryx chaoyangensis, an ancient bird previously thought to feed on fish or insects. This finding reveals that this species actually consumed fruits, challenging previous hypotheses about its diet. The study also explores the implications of Longipteryx’s unusual dental and skeletal features, suggesting these may have been used for non-dietary functions, such as social or sexual selection. Discovering Diet: Unusual Fossil Find For paleontologists who study animals that lived long ago, fossilized remains tell only part of the story of an animal’s life. While a well-preserved skeleton can provide hints at what an ancient animal ate or how it moved, irrefutable proof of these behaviors is hard to come by. But sometimes, scientists luck out with extraordinary fossils that preserve something beyond the animal’s body. Case in point: in a new study published today (September 10) in the journal Current Biology, researchers found fossilized seeds in the stomachs of one of the earliest birds. This discovery shows that these birds were eating fruits, despite a long-standing hypothesis that this species of bird feasted on fish (and more recent hypotheses it ate insects) with its incredibly strong teeth. Skull of Longipteryx, showing its teeth. Credit: Xiaoli Wang Insights Into Longipteryx chaoyangensis Longipteryx chaoyangensis lived 120 million years ago in what’s now northeastern China. It’s among the earliest known birds, and one of the strangest. “Longipteryx is one of my favorite fossil birds, because it’s just so weird — it has this long skull, and teeth only at the tip of its beak,” says Jingmai O’Connor, associate curator of fossil reptiles in the Field Museum’s Neguanee Integrative Research Center and the study’s lead author.  “Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the body, and Longipteryx’s tooth enamel is 50 microns thick. That’s the same thickness of the enamel on enormous predatory dinosaurs like Allosaurus that weighed 4,000 pounds, but Longipteryx is the size of a bluejay,” says Alex Clark, a PhD student at the Field Museum and the University of Chicago and a co-author of the paper. A photograph of the stomach contents of a fossil Longipteryx; the three round structures are seeds. Credit: Xiaoli Wang Rethinking Prehistoric Bird Diets Longipteryx was discovered in 2000, and at the time, scientists suggested that its kingfisher-like elongated skull meant that it too hunted fish. However, this hypothesis has been challenged by a number of scientists, including O’Connor. “There are other fossil birds, like Yanornis, that ate fish, and we know because specimens have been found with preserved stomach contents, and fish tend to preserve well. Plus, these fish-eating birds had lots of teeth, all the way along their beaks, unlike how Longipteryx only has teeth at the very tip of its beak,” says O’Connor. “It just didn’t add up.” However, no specimens of Longipteryx had been found with fossilized food still in their stomachs for scientists to confirm what it ate — until now. O’Connor visited the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature in China, where she noticed two Longipteryx specimens that appeared to have something in their stomachs. She consulted with her colleague, paleobotanist and Field Museum associate curator of fossil plants Fabiany Herrera, who was able to determine that the tiny, round structures in the birds’ stomachs were seeds from the fruits of an ancient tree. (Or technically, flesh-covered seeds — “true fruits” are only found in flowering plants, which were just starting to flourish 120 million years ago when Longipteryx lived. The trees that Longipteryx was feeding from were gymnosperms, relatives of today’s conifers and gingkos.) A modern hummingbird, Androdon aequatorialis, which has tooth-like structures at the tip of its beak that it uses to fight. Credit: Kate Golembiewski Dietary Habits and Evolutionary Adaptations Since Longipteryx lived in a temperate climate, it probably wasn’t eating fruits year-round; O’Connor and her colleagues suspect that it had a mixed diet which included things like insects when fruits weren’t available.   Longipteryx is part of a larger group of prehistoric birds called the enantiornithines, and this discovery marks the first time that scientists have found any stomach contents from an enantiornithine in China’s Jehol Biota despite thousands of uncovered fossils. “It’s always been weird that we didn’t know what they were eating, but this study also hints at a bigger picture problem in paleontology, that physical characteristics of a fossil don’t always tell the whole story about what animal ate or how it lived,” says O’Connor.  Since Longipteryx apparently wasn’t hunting for fish, that leaves a question: what was it using its long, pointy beak and crazy-strong teeth for? “The thick enamel is overpowered, it seems to be weaponized,” says Clark, who looked to modern birds to try to understand what Longipteryx was doing with its beak. “One of the most common parts of the skeleton that birds use for aggressive displays is the rostrum, the beak. Having a weaponized beak makes sense, because it moves the weapon further away from the rest of the body, to prevent injury.”  “There are no modern birds with teeth, but there are these really cool little hummingbirds that have keratinous projections near the tip of the rostrum that resemble what you see in Longipteryx, and they use them as weapons to fight each other,” says O’Connor. Weaponized beaks in hummingbirds have evolved at least seven times, allowing them to compete for limited resources.  Clark suggested the hypothesis that perhaps Longipteryx’s teeth and beak also served as a weapon, perhaps evolving under social or sexual selection The researchers say that beyond figuring out more about the life of one weird prehistoric bird, they hope their research helps illuminate broader questions in paleontology about how much scientists can (or can’t) trust skeletal traits to tell the story of animal behavior. “We’re trying to open up a new area of research for these early birds and get paleontologists to look at these structures, like the beak, and think about the complexity of the behaviors that these animals might have engaged in beyond just what they were eating,” says O’Connor. “There are many factors that could be shaping the structures that we see.” Reference: “Direct evidence of frugivory in the Mesozoic bird Longipteryx contradicts morphological proxies for diet” by Jingmai O’Connor, Alexander Clark, Fabiany Herrera, Xin Yang, Xiaoli Wang, Xiaoting Zheng, Han Hu and Zhonghe Zhou, 10 September 2024, Current Biology. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.08.012 This study was contributed to by Jingmai O’Connor (Field Museum), Alex Clark (Field Museum, University of Chicago), Fabiany Herrera (Field Museum), Xin Yang (Field Museum, University of Chicago), Xiaoli Wang (Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature, Linyi University, Shandong University of Science and Technology), Xiaoting Zheng (Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature), Han Hu (Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), and Zhonghe Zhou (Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences).

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