Fossil BirdsNotice of the Fossil Birds from the Cretaceous and Tertiary Formations of the United States.O. C. Marsh

1870 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 310-311
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Birds

scholarly journals A phasianid bird from the Pleistocene of Tainan: the very first avian fossil from Taiwan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng-Hsiu Tsai ◽  
Gerald Mayr
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Birds ◽  
Phasianus Colchicus ◽  
Diagnostic Features ◽  
Physical Evidence ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Geological Past ◽  
Fossil Bird ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Unambiguous Assignment

AbstractTaiwan accommodates more than 600 avian species, including about 30 endemic ones. As yet, however, no fossil birds have been scientifically documented from Taiwan, so that the evolutionary origins of this diversified avifauna remain elusive. Here we report on the very first fossil bird from Taiwan. This Pleistocene specimen, a distal end of the left tarsometatarsus, shows diagnostic features of the galliform Phasianidae, including an asymmetric plantar articular facet trochlea metatarsi III. Our discovery of a Pleistocene phasianid from Taiwan opens a new perspective on studies of the evolution of the avifauna in Taiwan because the fossil shows that careful search for fossils in suitable localities has the potential of recovering avian remains. In general, East Asia has an extremely poor avian fossil record, especially if terrestrial birds are concerned, which impedes well-founded evolutionary scenarios concerning the arrival of certain groups in the area. The Phasianidae exhibit a high degree of endemism in Taiwan, and the new fossil presents the first physical evidence for the presence of phasianids on the island, some 400,000–800,000 years ago. The specimen belongs to a species the size of the three larger phasianids occurring in Taiwan today (Syrmaticus mikado, Lophura swinhoii, and Phasianus colchicus). Still, an unambiguous assignment to either of these species is not possible due to the incomplete nature of the left tarsometatarsus. Because the former two species are endemic to Taiwan, the fossil has the potential to yield the first data on their existence in the geological past of Taiwan if future finds allow identification on species-level.

scholarly journals Researches on Fossil Birds. By M. Alph. Milne Edwards.

1873 ◽  
Vol 10 (111) ◽  
pp. 418-421
Author(s):  
J. M.
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Birds

Fossil birds from the Miocene and Pliocene of Hambach (NW Germany)

2006 ◽  
Vol 277 (1-6) ◽  
pp. 113-121
Author(s):  
Johan Dalsätt ◽  
Thomas Mörs ◽  
Per G. P. Ericson
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Birds ◽  
Nw Germany

Early Eocene (Ypresian) birds from the Okanagan Highlands, British Columbia (Canada) and Washington State (USA)

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 803-813
Author(s):  
Gerald Mayr ◽  
S. Bruce Archibald ◽  
Gary W. Kaiser ◽  
Rolf W. Mathewes
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
North America ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Fossil Birds ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Postcranial Skeleton ◽  
The North ◽  
Okanagan Highlands

We survey the known avian fossils from Ypresian (early Eocene) fossil sites of the North American Okanagan Highlands, mainly in British Columbia (Canada). All specimens represent taxa that were previously unknown from the Eocene of far-western North America. Wings from the McAbee site are tentatively referred to the Gaviiformes and would constitute the earliest fossil record of this group of birds. A postcranial skeleton from Driftwood Canyon is tentatively assigned to the Songziidae, a taxon originally established for fossils from the Ypresian of China. Two skeletons from Driftwood Canyon and the McAbee site are tentatively referred to Coliiformes and Zygodactylidae, respectively, whereas three further fossils from McAbee, Blakeburn, and Republic (Washington, USA) are too poorly preserved for even a tentative assignment. The specimens from the Okanagan Highlands inhabited relatively high paleoaltitudes with microthermal climates (except Quilchena: lower mesothermal) and mild winters, whereas most other Ypresian fossil birds are from much warmer lowland paleoenvironments with upper mesothermal to megathermal climates. The putative occurrence of a gaviiform bird is particularly noteworthy because diving birds are unknown from other lacustrine Ypresian fossil sites of the Northern Hemisphere. The bones of the putative zygodactylid show a sulphurous colouration, and we hypothesize that this highly unusual preservation may be due to the metabolic activity of sulphide-oxidizing bacteria.

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