| Podiceps howardae Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Podicipediformes |
| Family: | Podicipedidae |
| Genus: | Podiceps |
| Species: | †P. howardae |
| Binomial name | |
| †Podiceps howardae Storer, 2001 | |
Podiceps howardae is a possible extinct species of grebe from the United States, possibly a larger and earlier form of the horned grebe (P. auritus).
In 2001 an article was published that took account of over 10,000 specimens coming from 112 bird species. The age of these fossils date from the Middle Miocene to the Zanclean found at Aurora, Beaufort County, North Carolina, collected from the 1960s to 1970s. [1] The species is named in honor of the paleornithologist Hildegarde Howard for her contribution of fossil birds. [2]
Twenty two bones were used for description by American ornithologist Robert W. Storer. The holotype (USNM 252314) is a complete right femur. The femur is similar in proportions to the horned grebe, but differs in that the femur of P. howardae is narrower across the distal end as well as the external condyle being narrow too. Seven other femora were also found and assigned as the paratypes (KUVP 21240, USNM 177918, USNM 178151, USNM 206413, USNM 215453, USNM 215649, and USNM 460785). A nearly complete tarsometatarsus (KUVP 21239) and a proximal half of another one (USNM 250773) is similar in length and width of those found in the largest male horned grebe. The distal portion of the bone from another specimen (USNM 210531), however, shows to be more slender as seen in male and female members of horned grebes. Fragmentary tarsometatarsi, one of a proximal portion (USNM 193175) and the other a distal portion (USNM 206326), are more similar in size to USNM 210531. A nearly complete coracoid (USNM 177927) is similar in characteristic to those from horned grebes, but the sternal facet is relatively deeper. A nearly complete humerus (USNM 243764) has a length that is within the range of measurements seen in the humeri of female horned grebes. Additional humeri (a proximal portion USNM 183430 and four distal portions USNM 193242, USNM 215034, USNM 368557, USNM 430524) are within the size range of horned grebe humeri, though a fifth distal (USNM 407798) is much larger and might come from a male bird. The distal portion of an ulna (KUVP 21292) is slightly heavier and wider than the ulnae of horned grebes. [2]
While Storer (2001) argued that the age and size of the grebe was sufficient enough to warrant as a new species, [2] Olson and Rasmussen (2001) argued that the material should be transferred over to P. auritus instead. [1]
P. howardae comes from the Yorktown Formation dating to the Zanclean. Based on fossils of other birds and fish that have been found there, the area was a coastal environment where various of water and seabirds would have been found there in great abundance. [1]
Loons or divers are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus Gavia, family Gaviidae and order Gaviiformes.
Grebes are aquatic diving birds in the order Podicipediformes. Grebes are widely distributed freshwater birds, with some species also found in marine habitats during migration and winter. Most grebes fly, although some flightless species exist, most notably in stable lakes. The order contains a single family, the Podicipedidae, which includes 22 species in six extant genera.
The horned grebe or Slavonian grebe is a relatively small and threatened species of waterbird in the family Podicipedidae. There are two subspecies: P. a. auritus, which breeds in Eurasia, and P. a. cornutus, which breeds in North America. The Eurasian subspecies is distributed over most of northern Europe and northern Asia, breeding from Greenland east to the Russian Far East. The North American subspecies spans most of Canada and some of the United States. The species got its name from large patches of yellowish feathers located behind the eyes, called "horns", that the birds can raise and lower at will..
The Pelagornithidae, commonly called pelagornithids, pseudodontorns, bony-toothed birds, false-toothed birds or pseudotooth birds, are a prehistoric family of large seabirds. Their fossil remains have been found all over the world in rocks dating between the Early Paleocene and the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary.
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"
Pinguinus alfrednewtoni is an extinct species of auk related to the great auk known from fossils that were discovered in the Pliocene Yorktown Formation of North Carolina. Like the great auk, it was a large flightless diving bird that used its wings to propel itself forward underwater. Only a limited amount of material is known, despite the rich diversity of fossil auks recovered from the Yorktown Formation. Due to this, it has been proposed that it was either a more coastal animal or simply not as common in more southern waters. This later suggestion could be supported by the discovery of relatively young P. alfrednewtoni remains, indicating that they may have overwintered in the region. One early hypothesis proposed that it was a direct ancestor to the great auk, but this idea is no longer supported. Instead, it is thought that it filled the same niche as its eastern relative, which eventually expanded into the western Atlantic after the extinction of P. alfrednewtoni.
Pterodromoides is an extinct genus of fulmarine petrel dating from the Late Miocene. It contains a single species, P. minoricensis. Its fossil remains were first discovered at the Punta Nati palaeontological site on the island of Menorca in the Balearic archipelago of the western Mediterranean. An additional specimen from North Carolina, USA has also been referred to this species, suggesting it lived across the North Atlantic. It was described in 2001, with the authors justifying the creation of a new genus by the large orbitonasal opening and characters of the postcranial skeleton, despite the similarity of the cranial osteology to that of Pagodroma.
Phoenicopterus floridanus is an extinct species of flamingo that lived during the Pliocene in what is now Florida and potentially North Carolina.
Gavia howardae is an extinct species of loon from the Piacenzian age from United States. Fossils of this bird were initially found in 1947 by Clifford Kennell in the San Diego Formation, California and were given a name in 1953 by Pierce Brodkorb. These first specimens consisted of humeri bones, which Brodkorb indicated based on the distal end of the humerus were a smaller species of the genus Gavia, with a possible relationship with the pacific loon. More specimens were collected from the same deposits covering the entirety of the wing, some more complete than others. Chandler (1990) described and published these new materials and found G. howardae to be related to the red-throated loon instead. Additional material has been recovered from the Yorktown Formation, North Carolina where in addition more wing bones, there were also remains of the leg and shoulder regions. Based on the overall size of the remains, G. howardae was on average smaller than the red-throated loon, and one of the smallest species of Neogene loons from North America.
Gavia fortis is an extinct species of loon from the Zanclean age from United States. Fossils of this bird have mostly been found in the Yorktown Formation from North Carolina and two specimens recovered from the Bone Valley Formation in Florida. Remains of this species is mostly the bones that make up the wing, the synsacrum, the legs and feet. Olson & Rasmussen who described the species in 2001 noted that the bones are markedly more robust, indicating this is the third largest species of loon to have existed, after the common loon and the yellow-billed loon. The authors believed G. fortis is indeed close to the ancestor of both of the aforementioned extant species.
Gavia egeriana is an extinct species of loon from the Miocene epoch, where the holotype was found in Dolnice, Czech Republic dating to the Burdigalian. The holotype consisted of two distal ends of the humeri bones. Other more completed material has been found in the Calvert Formation from the Chesapeake Group in the United States, with possible material from the Pungo River Formation from North Carolina. These material consist of the right coracoid and nearly two-thirds of a right ulna and date to the Langhian. G. egeriana was a very small species of loon and it was the earliest, possibly the ancestral species that gave raise to the other species in the genus.
Agnopterus is an extinct genus of stem-flamingo phoenicopteriform with fossil material from France, as well as possibly England, Kazakhstan, and Brazil. The holotype specimen for type species A. laurillardi is an incomplete distal tibiotarsus from Late Eocene gypsum from Paris; a coracoid, humeri, a scapula and perhaps a proximal femur have been recovered from Late Eocene to Early Oligocene of England to a possible second species, A. hantoniensis. Two additional species from the Late Oligocene-Early Miocene have been named as well. A. turgaiensis of Kazakhstan and A. sicki of Brazil. While all four species are considered to be close to the ancestry of flamingos, their exact relationships and placement as members of Agnopterus is uncertain.
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Podiceps oligoceanus is an extinct species of grebe possibly from the Neogene period which the specimen has been found in the United States.
Podiceps dixi is a possible extinct species of grebe from the United States.
Podiceps solidus is an extinct small species of Upper Miocene to Lower Pliocene grebe from Western Mongolia.
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