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Macrornis tanaupus Seeley, 1866: an enigmatic giant bird from the upper Eocene of England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2021

Eric Buffetaut Open the ORCID record for Eric Buffetaut [Opens in a new window]  and
Delphine Angst
Eric Buffetaut*
Affiliation:
CNRS (UMR 8538), Laboratoire de Géologie, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Maha Sarakham University, Maha Sarakham, Thailand
Delphine Angst
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK
*
Author for correspondence: Eric Buffetaut, Email: eric.buffetaut@sfr.fr
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Abstract

A large bone from the upper Eocene Totland Bay Formation of Hordle Cliff (Hampshire), originally described by Seeley (1866) as Macrornis tanaupus and interpreted by him as belonging to a ‘large Struthious bird’, is redescribed and illustrated for the first time. It is not a reptile bone, as previously suggested, but the proximal part of a left avian tibiotarsus. A mass estimate of 43 kg, comparable to that of an emu, suggests that it was flightless. A precise identification is difficult because of the incompleteness of the specimen, and Macrornis tanaupus should probably be considered as a nomen dubium. We exclude Seeley’s interpretation as a ratite, as well as previous attributions to gastornithids. We tentatively suggest that the specimen may belong to a phorusrhacid, which would extend the stratigraphic record of this group in Europe by a few million years. The presence of a large terrestrial bird in the upper Eocene of Europe may have a bearing on the interpretation of enigmatic footprints of very large birds from the upper Eocene Paris gypsum.

Keywords

AvesLate EoceneEnglandMacrornistibiotarsus
Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 158 , Issue 6 , June 2021 , pp. 1129 - 1134
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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