Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-5g6vh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T02:40:45.701Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Short Note: An ibis-like bird from the Upper La Meseta Formation (Late Eocene) of Seymour Island, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2008

Piotr Jadwiszczak ,
Andrzej GaŹdzicki  and
Andrzej Tatur
Piotr Jadwiszczak*
Affiliation:
Instytut Biologii, Uniwersytet w Białymstoku, ul. Świerkowa 20B, 15-950 Białystok, Poland
Andrzej GaŹdzicki
Affiliation:
Instytut Paleobiologii, Polska Akademia Nauk, ul. Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warszawa, Poland
Andrzej Tatur
Affiliation:
Zakład Biologii Antarktyki, Polska Akademia Nauk, ul. Ustrzycka 10/12, 02-141 Warszawa, Poland
*
*piotrj@uwb.edu.pl
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Ibises are a group of medium- to large-sized, mainly wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae (Aves: Ciconiiformes; see also discussion in Mayr 2002). They are known from all the continents except Antarctica, though one species breeds as far south as Tierra del Fuego (del Hoyo et al. 1992, p. 499). The oldest fossil bones (including skull elements) attributed to ibises are those of Rhynchaeites messelensis Wittich, 1898 from the Middle Eocene of Messel, Germany (Peters 1983, Mayr 2002). Another supposed member of this group is the Pondaung bird from the late Middle Eocene of Myanmar (formerly Burma) represented solely by an incomplete tibiotarsus (Stidham et al. 2005, fig. 2). The taxonomic position of Minggangia changgouensis Hou, 1982 from the Late Eocene of China (Hou 1982) was recently questioned by Stidham et al. (2005, p. 183). Here, we present a partial bill from the Eocene La Meseta Formation (Seymour Island, Antarctica) which most closely resembles that of ibises.

Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , August 2008 , pp. 413 - 414
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bargo, M.S. & Reguero, M.A. 1998. Annotated catalogue of the fossil vertebrates from Antarctica housed in the Museo de La Plata, Argentina. I. Birds and land mammals from La Meseta Formation (Eocene – ?Early Oligocene). In Casadio, S., ed. Paleógeno de América del Sur y de la Península Antártica. Buenos Aires: Associación Paleontológica Argentina, Publicación Especial, 5, 211–221.Google Scholar
Baumel, J.J. & Witmer, L.M. 1993. Osteologia. In Baumel, J.J., ed. Handbook of avian anatomy: Nomina Anatomica Avium. Cambridge, MA: Nutall Ornithological Club, 45–132.Google Scholar
Case, J.A., Woodburne, M.O. & Chaney, D.S. 1987. A gigantic phororhacoid (?) bird from Antarctica. Journal of Paleontology, 61, 1280–1284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J., eds. 1992. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 1. Ostrich to ducks. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, 696 pp.Google Scholar
Hou, L.H. 1982. New form of the Threskiornithidae from the upper Eocene of the Minggang, Henan. Vertebrata PalAsiatica, 20, 196–202.Google Scholar
Jadwiszczak, P. 2006. Eocene penguins of Seymour Island, Antarctica: taxonomy. Polish Polar Research, 27, 3–62.Google Scholar
Jerzmańska, A. & Świdnicki, J. 1992. Gadiform remains from the La Meseta Formation (Eocene) of Seymour Island, West Antarctica. Polish Polar Research, 13, 241–253.Google Scholar
Marenssi, S.A. 2006. Eustatically controlled sedimentation recorded by Eocene strata of the James Ross Basin, Antarctica. In Francis, J.E., Pirrie, D. & Crame, J.A., eds. Cretaceous–Tertiary high-latitude palaeoenvironments, James Ross Basin, Antarctica. London: Geological Society, Special Publications, 258, 125–133.Google Scholar
Mayr, G. 2002. A contribution to the osteology of the Middle Eocene ibis Rhynchaeites messelensis (Aves: Threskiornithidae: Rhynchaeitinae nov. subfam.). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, 8, 501–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, D.S. 1983. Die “Schnepfenralle” Rhynchaeites messelensis Wittich 1898 ist ein ibis. Journal für Ornithologie, 124, 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stidham, T.A., Holroyd, P.A., Gunnell, G., Ciochon, R.L., Tsubamoto, T., Egi, N. & Takai, M. 2005. An ibis-like bird (Aves: cf. Threskiornithidae) from the late Middle Eocene of Myanmar. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology (University of Michigan), 31, 179–184.Google Scholar
Tambussi, C.P., Noriega, J.I., Gaździcki, A., Tatur, A., Reguero, M.A. & Vizcaino, S.F. 1994. Ratite bird from the Paleogene La Meseta Formation, Seymour Island, Antarctica. Polish Polar Research, 15, 15–20.Google Scholar