CAYAOA BRUNETI (AVES: ANSERIFORMES) FROM THE EARLY MIOCENE OF PATAGONIA, ARGENTINA: NEW MATERIALS AND REVISED DIAGNOSIS

Authors

  • Ricardo Santiago De Mendoza CONICET - División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, B1900FWA La Plata
  • Claudia P. Tambussi Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra (CICTERRA), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, CONICET, Av. Vélez Sársfield 1611, X5016GCA, Córdoba

Keywords:

Diving duck, Flightless, Patagonia, Foot-propelled

Abstract

We restudy the holotype specimen and all the alleged fossil material assigned to Cayaoa bruneti Tonni from the Early Miocene marine deposits of the Gaiman Formation, Patagonia, Argentina. Cayaoa bruneti is phylogenetically placed close to the Erismaturinae (= ”Oxyurinae”) that contains the diving birds. It was considered a flightless foot-propelled diving duck and represents the earliest example of flight loss in Anatidae. We carried out a comparative and morphometric descriptive study of different species of anseriforms with special attention to divers, to evaluate which is the expected intraspecific size variation within anatids to make an assignment of materials with a greater degree of certainty. Our results allow us to state that one coracoid, five humeri, two carpometacarpi, 12 femora, eight tibiotarsi, and eight tarsometatarsi can be assigned to the species. Consequently, it was possible to make a more detailed description and amend the original diagnosis. http://dx.doi.org/10.5710/AMGH.24.05.2019.3199

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Published

2019-09-05

Issue

Vol. 56 No. 3 (2019)

Section

Articles

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How to Cite

CAYAOA BRUNETI (AVES: ANSERIFORMES) FROM THE EARLY MIOCENE OF PATAGONIA, ARGENTINA: NEW MATERIALS AND REVISED DIAGNOSIS. (2019). Ameghiniana, 56(3), 213–227. https://ameghiniana.org.ar/index.php/ameghiniana/article/view/3199

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