| Agapornis longipes Temporal range: Plio-Pleistocene transition–early Pleistocene, | |
|---|---|
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| Fossilized remains of A. longipes | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Psittaciformes |
| Family: | Psittaculidae |
| Genus: | Agapornis |
| Species: | †A. longipes |
| Binomial name | |
| †Agapornis longipes Pavia et al., 2024 [1] | |
Agapornis longipes is an extinct species of lovebird that lived in the Cradle of Humankind about 2.5 million years ago.
Fossilized remains of Agapornis longipes have been discovered decades before the species was named. In 1969, T.N. Pocock reported that remains of lovebirds belonging to the genus Agapornis have been discovered at the Kromdraai fossil site in Gauteng, South Africa. He believed that two species were represented by these specimens, a smaller species around the size of a budgerigar and a larger species, but did not assign any of the specimens to any named species. [2] The presence of at least one lovebird species at Kromdraai was further confirmed in 2010, when Thomas A. Stidham reported that the fossilized humerus of a small lovebird had been discovered during excavations at the site between 1977 and 1980, and was being housed in the Transvaal Museum. Stidham also added that the lovebird remains reported by Pocock had been lost. [3] However this turned out to be incorrect, and those remains are actually kept at the Evolutionary Study Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand. [1] Marco Pavia further published two papers reporting fossil remains of Agapornis, one in 2020 mentioning a humerus at Kromdraai, and the other in 2022 detailing a variety of small bones from the nearby Cooper's Cave. In both papers, Pavia identified the remains only to the genus level, stating that comprehensive analysis is needed for more specific identification. [4] [5]
In 2024, a study on the fossil lovebird remains found in the Cradle of Humankind (a World Heritage Site about 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa) was published. The authors of the study analysed specimens housed in the University of the Witwatersrand and the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, including those formerly studied by Pocock, Stidham or Pavia, and concluded that they represent a single new species. The name Agapornis longipes was given to this species, with the specific name meaning "long-footed" in Latin. Bones of this lovebird were uncovered in three caves in the Cradle of Humankind, namely Kromdraai, Cooper's Cave and Swartkrans, and the authors described a series of remains found between 1979 and 1986 by paleontologist Bob Brain in detail. [1] Birds have fragile bones, so fossils of small birds such as Agapornis are typically found in small fragments, but A. longipes was unusually represented by 96 bones, some entirely complete and others incomplete. [6]
Agapornis longipes was a small species of parrot with relatively large legs compared to other lovebirds. The wing bones of this fossil species are comparable in size to those of the extant Fischer's, Lilian's and black-cheeked lovebirds, suggesting it was about as large as these small modern forms. However, the tarsometatarsus of A. longipes is closer in size to that of the larger lovebird species such as the black-winged and rosy-faced lovebirds. This makes the ratio of humerus to tarsometatarsus length in A. longipes the smallest of all known Agapornis species, indicating this species had long legs for a lovebird. Intraspecific variation in size is known in A. longipes, with some individuals being larger than others, though the ratio of wing length to leg length remains the same regardless of an individual's size. [1] When remains of the species were first studied in 1969, it was thought that larger and smaller individuals represent two separate species. [2] However, this size variation is within the range seen in extant lovebird species. In addition, no extant lovebird species overlap in distribution with one another, making it unlikely that A. longipes lived alongside a second species of lovebird. [1]
Only one scapulocoracoid of this species has been found, and the sternal part of it is not preserved. The clavicular facet of the scapula is large, with a protrusion on its ventral (lower) side, and overhangs a deep fossa (depression or hollow). On the dorsal (upper) side of the groove of the supracoracoideus (one of the flight muscles), there is a rounded tubercle. The humerus has a prominent dorsal tubercle and a deep attachment for the brachialis muscle, making it more similar to that of the extinct Agapornis attenboroughi than any extant lovebirds. The ulna of A. longipes has a curved shaft like that of all other lovebirds, but otherwise differs from them in having a less protruding, stouter olecranon and a carpal tubercle which protrudes ventrally rather than distally (towards the underside instead of the wing tip). [1] The carpometacarpus has an elongated, ridge-like pisiform process, which is an apomorphy (unique derived feature) of the Agapornis genus. [7] There is also a continuous ridge connecting the pisiform process to the alula process, a feature not seen in other lovebird species. [1]
A single tibiotarsus of A. longipes is known, and is similar in structure to that of other lovebirds (and unlike most other African parrots). The tarsometatarsus has a canal where both the flexor hallucis longus muscle and the flexor digitorum longus muscle would have been attached, and a separate canal is present for the superficial flexor tendons. Such a canal structure of the tarsometatarsus is also known in other Agapornis species, as well as the related hanging parrots of the genus Loriculus . In A. longipes, the trochlea (pulley-like grooved structure) at the head of the third metatarsal protrudes further and is wider at the proximal end than in any living lovebird species, and the tarsometatarsus is also straighter and narrower at the proximal end. [1]
Because all but one living species of lovebirds eat mainly grass seeds and secondarily feed on fruit, it is believed that Agapornis longipes had a similar diet. [8] [9] [10] While some extant lovebirds search for food in trees, the ones with comparably longer legs relative to their wings (namely the grey-headed, yellow-collared and Fischer's lovebirds) feed on the ground. [10] A. longipes has the proportionally longest legs of all known lovebirds, suggesting that this prehistoric species lived primarily on the ground rather than in trees, feeding on grass seeds in the tall, dense foliage of the South African grasslands. [1] Even so, the breeding habits of A. longipes are still presumably similar to those of living lovebirds, which require tall trees with either natural cavities or holes made by other birds (such as African barbets and woodpeckers) to lay their eggs in. [1] [10] It was reported by T.N. Pocock in 1969 that one humerus found at the Kromdraai fossil site was distinctly that of an immature bird, suggesting that this site was used as a nesting ground for A. longipes rather than simply being part of its non-breeding range. [2]
The environment that Agapornis longipes inhabited was similar to the grasslands of modern South Africa. Living in the Cradle of Humankind, the species lived alongside the hominids Paranthropus and Homo . Because the environment of A. longipes has not changed significantly, it is likely that the bird was driven to extinction by microclimatic changes or the extinction of a food source rather than a change in the general environment. [1]
