Old and new fossil birds from the Spanish Miocene

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Sánchez-Marco
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.

Fossil Birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Evidence for Wholesale Extinction by Man Before Western Contact

Science ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 217 (4560) ◽  
pp. 633-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. OLSON ◽  
H. F. JAMES
Keyword(s):  
Hawaiian Islands ◽  
Fossil Birds

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

New records of fossil birds from the Pliocene of Kallo, Belgium

2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (4) ◽  
pp. 233-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth J. Dyke ◽  
Cyril A. Walker
Keyword(s):  
New Records ◽  
Fossil Birds
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