Wing bones of an ergilornithid (Aves, Struthioniformes) from the late Miocene of Türkiye corroborate ostrich affinities of these “crane-like” birds - 19/09/26
, Ahmet İhsan Aytek b, Alper Yener Yavuz b, Erhan Tarhan c, George E. Konidaris d, e, M. Cihat Alçiçek f, Katerina Harvati e, g, hAbstract |
We report remains of an ergilornithid bird from the late Miocene of Türkiye. The material includes a distal femur and tibiotarsus, as well as wing bones (partial humerus, ulna, and carpometacarpus). It is tentatively assigned to the taxon Urmiornis , of which several species were described known from the Miocene and Pliocene of Asia. Before, only a single wing element (a referred proximal humerus) was known for ergilornithids, and the new fossils conclusively show that these birds were flightless. The phylogenetic affinities of ergilornithids have been the subject of some controversy, and these birds were likened to very disparate taxa by different authors, i.e., the palaeognathous Struthioniformes (ostriches) and the neognathous Gruiformes (cranes and allies). The newly identified proximal humerus and carpometacarpus closely resemble the corresponding elements of ostriches and corroborate struthioniform affinities of ergilornithids. It remains elusive why ergilornithids did not disperse into Africa, whereas other characteristic taxa of the Hipparion fauna did.
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Keywords : Aves, Hipparion fauna , Ostrich evolution, Struthioniformes, Systematics
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| ☆ | Corresponding editor: Antoine Louchart. |
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