Harrison (1979) erected this genus because he found himself unable to assign a 19th-century plaster cast of a broken tarsometatarsus bone originally retrieved from Siwalik Hills sediments to modern cormorants. As the fossil itself is apparently lost, this makes the genus a nomen dubium.
Few other researchers have commented on this, most deciding not to discuss this taxon. Those that did chided Harrison's decision to assign an undiagnostic and possibly damaged cast as a type specimen of a new genus. Olson (1985) called it
"...very near the acme of zealotry for naming new species of fossil birds. It is highly doubtful that the genus Valenticarbo could be shown to be valid, even if a specimen of it did exist."
Carroll (1988) considers this "genus" a synonym of Phalacrocorax, the modern cormorants. Given that fossil cormorants not assignable to Phalacrocorax are not known to have occurred later than Early Pliocene, this is likely to be correct, but the possibility that the original fossil was not of a cormorant at all cannot be discounted.
External links
Carroll, Robert L. (1988): Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W.H. Freeman and Company. ISBN0-7167-1822-7
Harrison, C. J. O. (1979): The Pliocene Siwalik cormorant. Tertiary Research2(2): 57–58.
Olson, Storrs L. (1985): Section X.G.5.d. Phalacrocoracidae. In: Farner, D.S.; King, J.R. & Parkes, Kenneth C. (eds.): Avian Biology8: 207–208. Academic Press, New York.
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Pamela Cecile Rasmussen is a prominent American ornithologist and expert on Asian birds. She was formerly a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and is based at the Michigan State University. She is associated with other major centers of research in the United States and the United Kingdom.
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Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1985.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1984.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1979.
Pelagornis is a widespread genus of prehistoric pseudotooth birds. These were probably rather close relatives of either pelicans and storks, or of waterfowl, and are here placed in the order Odontopterygiformes to account for this uncertainty.
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