Pterocles bosporanus

Last updated

Pterocles bosporanus
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene, 1.8–1.5  Ma
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Pterocliformes
Family: Pteroclidae
Genus: Pterocles
Species:
P. bosporanus
Binomial name
Pterocles bosporanus
Zelenkov, 2023

Pterocles bosporanus is an extinct species of sandgrouse, described in 2023 from early Pleistocene-aged fossil material found in central Crimea. Potential additional remains are known from Italy. The only confirmed specimen is part of a limb bone, and the species is larger than other members of the genus Pterocles .

Contents

Discovery and naming

The holotype, PIN, no. 5644/1523, represents the distal end of the left tibiotarsus and has been placed in the Borissiak Paleontological institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. The specimen is currently the only known material of this species, and was collected in 2018 from early Pleistocene-aged Taurida Cave in Belogorsky District, Crimea. The species was officially named in 2023, and the specific name references the Bosporan Kingdom. [1]

Fossilized coracoids found in the late Pleistocene locality of Pirro-Nord, Italy represent a bird comparable in size to P. bosporanus, and have been attributed to the black-bellied sandgrouse. These may actually represent additional remains of P. bosporanus, but the lack of overlapping material makes this uncertain. [2]

Description

Pterocles bosporanus is a medium large bird, resembling the black-bellied sandgrouse (the largest living sandgrouse) in absolute size, and is larger than its extant congeners. Currently, the only confirmed material of the species is part of the tibiotarsus. The condyles are in close proximity with each other, forming a proximodistally narrow articular surface resembling a block, and are near the distal aperture of the canalis extensorius. The apex of the medial condyle is notably more proximally protruding than the lateral condyle. The distal end of the tibiotarsus is rather wide in distal view. [1]

Paleoenvironment

This species has only been confirmed to occur at Taurida Cave, a large karst cave in the Crimean Mountains. The fossil assemblage of this locality reflects a warm, almost subtropical climate in a savannah-like habitat. Large mammalian herbivores are common in this assemblage, including bovids ( Bison , Leptobos , Gazellospira and Pontoceros ), rhinocerotids ( Elasmotherium and Stephanorhinus ), a camel ( Paracamelus ), the southern mammoth, a deer ( Avernoceros ) and two horses of the genus Equus . The apex predator guild was made up of the felid Homotherium , the hyena Pachycrocuta and a small wolf ( Canis sp.). Small mammals such as a porcupine and Hypolagus were also present. Other birds found at this site include a goshawk, a capercaillie, a little bustard, a falconid and the giant ostrich Struthio dmanisensis . [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pin-tailed sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

The pin-tailed sandgrouse is a medium large bird in the sandgrouse family. It has a small, pigeon like head and neck and a sturdy, compact body. It has long pointed wings, which are white underneath, a long tail and a fast direct flight. Flocks fly to watering holes at dawn. The call is a loud kattar-kattar. This gregarious species breeds on dry open treeless plains and similar habitats. Its nest is a ground scrape into which two or three cream-coloured eggs with cryptic markings are laid. Both sexes incubate the eggs.

<i>Pterocles</i> Genus of birds

Pterocles is a genus of near passerine birds in the sandgrouse family. It includes all the species in the family except for two central Asian species in Syrrhaptes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Painted sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

The painted sandgrouse is a medium large bird in the sandgrouse family Pteroclidae found in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chestnut-bellied sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

The chestnut-bellied sandgrouse or common sandgrouse is a species of sandgrouse. It is a sedentary and nomadic species that ranges from northern and central Africa and further east towards western and southern Asia. There are six recognised subspecies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Helena dove</span> Extinct species of bird

The Saint Helena dove is an extinct species of flightless bird in the family Columbidae. It is monotypic within the genus Dysmoropelia. It was endemic to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is known from remains of Late Pleistocene age found at the Sugarloaf Hill locality, which consists of aeolian calcareous sands. The holotype consists of a right coracoid, with paratypes consisting of "distal end of right tarsometatarsus, (S/1963.25.29) distal half of right humerus, (S/1963.25.26) worn left tibiotarsus lacking distal end, distal portion of shaft of left tarsometatarsus, (S/1963.25.30) worn proximal end of right humerus. left ulna, proximal fragments of left ulnae, (175959) proximal end of right femur, (175962) distal end of right humerus"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Namaqua sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

The Namaqua sandgrouse, is a species of ground-dwelling bird in the sandgrouse family. It is found in arid regions of south-western Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madagascar sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

The Madagascar sandgrouse is a species of bird in the family Pteroclidae. It is endemic to Madagascar and is a ground-dwelling short-legged plump bird. The head of the male is brown with a black area surrounding the beak. It has a pinkish-buff coloured breast, a light brown mottled back, brown wings and paler underparts barred with dark brown. The female has a generally duller appearance being cryptically coloured brown with dark specks and bars.

<i>Leptoptilos robustus</i> Extinct species of stork

Leptoptilos robustus is an extinct species of large-bodied stork belonging to the genus Leptoptilos that lived on the island of Flores in Indonesia during the Pleistocene epoch. It stood at about 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) tall and weighed up to an estimated 16 kilograms (35 lb). The majority of the discoveries are concentrated in Liang Bua cave located slightly north of Ruteng in the East Nusa Tenggara province.

Anser djuktaiensis or Dyuktai goose is an extinct goose, similar to but larger than the extant greylag goose, the remains of which have been found in the Dyuktai Cave near the Dyuktai River in Yakutia, Russia. The cave is dated from Upper Pleistocene to possibly Holocene in age.

Phoenicopterus minutus is an extinct species of flamingo which inhabited California during the Late Pleistocene. It was originally discovered in San Bernardino County, California in the Lake Manix beds, where it coexisted with a second, larger flamingo species.

Phoenicopterus copei is an extinct species of flamingo that inhabited North America during the Late Pleistocene. Its fossils have been discovered in Oregon, California, Mexico and Florida. Many of these localities preserve the remains of juvenile individuals, indicating that this species nested at the lakes found there. In some areas like California and Florida it coexisted with smaller flamingo species. P. copei was a large species of Phoenicopterus, described as being greater in size than modern American flamingos.

<i>Garganornis</i> Extinct genus of birds

Garganornis is an extinct genus of enormous flightless anatid waterfowl from the Late Miocene of Gargano, Italy. The genus contains one species, G. ballmanni, named by Meijer in 2014. Its enormous size is thought to have been an adaptation to living in exposed, open areas with no terrestrial predators, and as a deterrent to the indigenous aerial predators like the eagle Garganoaetus and the giant barn owl Tyto gigantea.

<i>Spheniscus muizoni</i> Extinct species of bird

Spheniscus muizoni is an extinct species of banded penguins that lived during the early Late Miocene in what is now Peru, South America. The species, the earliest member of the extant genus, was described in 2007 by Ursula B. Göhlich based on fossils found in the fossiliferous Pisco Formation of the Pisco Basin, southwestern Peru.

Patagorhacos is an extinct genus of medium-sized phorusrhacid from the early Miocene of Patagonia. Currently only the single species Patagorhacos terrificus is known, which is represented by two highly fragmentary specimen, one belonging to the back of the skull and the other being the distal end of a leg bone. It was described together with the contemporary rheid Opisthodactylus horacioperezi.

Annakacygna is a genus of flightless marine swan from the Miocene of Japan. Named in 2022, Annakacygna displays a series of unique adaptations setting it apart from any other known swan, including a filter feeding lifestyle, a highly mobile tail and wings that likely formed a cradle for their hatchlings in a fashion similar to modern mute swans. Additionally, it may have used both wings and tail as a form of display. All of these traits combined have led the researchers working on it to dub it "the ultimate bird". Two species are known, A. hajimei, which was approximately the size of a black swan, and A. yoshiiensis which exceeded the mute swan in both size and weight. The describing authors proposed the vernacular name Annaka short-winged swan for the genus.

Melanerpes shawi is an extinct species of woodpecker from the Pleistocene of California. It was found in the La Brea tar pits. It's part of the genus Melanerpes, which includes twenty-four extant species found across North and South America.

Phoenicopterus stocki, also known as Stock's flamingo, is an extinct species of flamingo from the Pliocene of Chihuahua, Mexico. It was described in 1944 as a small bodied flamingo species known from assorted fragmentary remains, including bones of the tibia and the wings. The discovery of juvenile remains suggests that the locality where the fossils were found represents a shallow lagoon or mudflat that housed a breeding colony.

Phoenicopterus floridanus is an extinct species of flamingo that lived during the Pliocene in what is now Florida and potentially North Carolina.

Xenorhynchopsis is an extinct genus of flamingo from the Pliocene to Pleistocene Lake Eyre basin of Australia. Initially described as species of stork, the two known Xenorhynchopsis species are vastly different in size. X. minor is the older and small of the two species, ranging from the Pliocene to Pleistocene and being described as having reached a size smaller than that of the lesser flamingo. X. tibialis meanwhile appears to have been restricted to Pleistocene strata and was notably bigger, being counted as one of the biggest known flamingos in the fossil record.

Podiceps solidus is an extinct small species of Upper Miocene to Lower Pliocene grebe from Western Mongolia.

References

  1. 1 2 Zelenkov, N. V. (2023-08-01). "A New Species of Sandgrouse (Aves: Pteroclidae) from the Early Pleistocene of the Crimea". Doklady Biological Sciences. 511 (1): 264–266. doi:10.1134/S0012496623700497. ISSN   1608-3105.
  2. Bedetti, Claudia; Pavia, Marco (March 2013). "Early Pleistocene birds from Pirro Nord (Puglia, southern Italy)". Palaeontographica,Abt.A:Palaeozoology–Stratigraphy. 298 (1–6): 31–53.
  3. Lopatin, A. V.; Vislobokova, I. A.; Lavrov, A. V.; Startsev, D. B.; Gimranov, D. O.; Zelenkov, N. V.; Maschenko, E. N.; Sotnikova, M. V.; Tarasenko, K. K.; Titov, V. V. (May 2019). "The Taurida Cave, a New Locality of Early Pleistocene Vertebrates in Crimea". Doklady Biological Sciences. 485 (1): 40–43. doi:10.1134/S0012496619020066. ISSN   0012-4966.