A bittern (Aves: Ardeidae) from the early Miocene of New Zealand

Autor: Alan J. D. Tennyson, RP Scofield, Trevor H. Worthy, Jennifer P. Worthy
Rok vydání: 2013
Předmět:
Zdroj: Paleontological Journal. 47:1331-1343
ISSN: 1555-6174
0031-0301
Popis: Herons (Aves: Ardeidae) are rare in the fossil record globally. Fossil taxa referred to Ardeinae and Nycticoracini are known from as early as the early Oligocene and ardeids undetermined to subfamily include some as old as the early Eocene. In Australasia, the pre-Pliocene record is restricted to one species from the early Miocene of New Zealand. On the basis of a tarsometatarsus and a coracoid we describe a new species of bittern (Ardeidae: Botaurinae) from the St Bathans Fauna, of early Miocene age, from Otago, New Zealand. This is only the third and the oldest pre-Quaternary record for Botaurinae globally.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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