Fossil birds of the Kibish Formation

The Kibish Formation has yielded a small collection of bird fossils, which are identified here as belonging to five species in four different families: Pelecanidae (pelicans), Anhingidae (darters), Ardeidae (herons) and Phasianidae (gamefowl). Two species of pelicans are identified: Pelecanus cf. P....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of human evolution 2008-09, Vol.55 (3), p.513-520
Main Author: Louchart, Antoine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anhingidae
Animal biology
Animals
Archaeological sites
Archaeology and Prehistory
Ardeidae
Aves
Biodiversity
Biodiversity and Ecology
Birds
Birds - anatomy & histology
Birds - classification
Bone and Bones - anatomy & histology
Earth Sciences
Environmental Sciences
Etheostoma
Ethiopia
Fossils
Humanities and Social Sciences
Landscape
Life Sciences
Numidinae
Paleoecology
Paleontology
Pelecanidae
Pelecanus
Phasianidae
Pleistocene
Populations and Evolution
Sciences of the Universe
Systematics, Phylogenetics and taxonomy
Vertebrate Zoology
Water resources
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The Kibish Formation has yielded a small collection of bird fossils, which are identified here as belonging to five species in four different families: Pelecanidae (pelicans), Anhingidae (darters), Ardeidae (herons) and Phasianidae (gamefowl). Two species of pelicans are identified: Pelecanus cf. P. onocrotalus, and P. aff. P. rufescens. The darter is referrable to Anhinga melanogaster. The heron is identifiable as Ardea sp., and the gamefowl as Numidinae indet. (guineafowl). Pelecanus cf. P. onocrotalus is represented by, among other remains, a well-preserved partial skull. Four of the birds are thus referrable to extant taxa that provide some paleoenvironmental clues for Member I of the Kibish Formation. The two species of pelican, the darter, and the heron indicate the presence of local freshwater bodies, a lake or a slow river, supporting resources of fish. The guineafowl is poorly informative ecologically, but probably excludes the notion that the local terrestrial landscape was treeless.
ISSN:0047-2484
1095-8606
DOI:10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.06.002