Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-v2bm5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-13T11:35:30.061Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Partial skeleton of a bony-toothed bird from the late Oligocene/early Miocene of Oregon (USA) and the systematics of Neogene Pelagornithidae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Gerald Mayr ,
James L. Goedert  and
Samuel A. McLeod
Gerald Mayr
Affiliation:
Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Sektion Ornithologie, Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany,
James L. Goedert
Affiliation:
Burke Museum, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA,
Samuel A. McLeod
Affiliation:
Vertebrate Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A partial skeleton of a pelagornithid bird found in latest Oligocene or earliest Miocene marine strata in Oregon consists of a pelvis fragment, thoracic vertebrae, and leg bones of a single individual. It is the most completely preserved pelagornithid from the late Oligocene/early Miocene, and one of the few bony-toothed birds from this time period in general. The new fossil is from the Nye Mudstone and shows some previously unknown features that contribute to a better understanding of the osteology of pelagornithids. Because Paleogene and late Neogene pelagornithids differ in several osteological features and the temporally intermediate forms are poorly known, it further bridges a gap in our knowledge of character evolution in pelagornithids. The interrelationships within Pelagornithidae are still poorly resolved, but we detail that a clade of Neogene species, which the Oregon pelagornithid is not part of, can be supported by a derived morphology of the femur. To ease description of Neogene pelagornithids, we synonymize Palaeochenoides Shufeldt, 1916 and Tympanonesiotes Hopson, 1964 with Pelagornis Lartet, 1857, and suggest classification of all Neogene pelagornithids in the latter taxon.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 87 , Issue 5 , September 2013 , pp. 922 - 929
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Addicott, W. O. 1976. Molluscan paleontology of the lower Miocene Clallam Formation, northwestern Washington. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 976:1–44.Google Scholar
Baumel, J. J. and Witmer, L. M. 1993. Osteologia, p. 45–132. InBaumel, J. J., King, A. S., Breazile, J. E., Evans, H. E. and Vanden Berge, J. C.(eds.), Handbook of Avian Anatomy: Nomina anatomica avium. Publications of the Nuttall Ornithological Club 23.Google Scholar
Barnes, L. G. 1979. Fossil enaliarctine pinnipeds (Mammalia: Otariidae) from Pyramid Hill, Kern County, California. Contributions in Science, 318:1–41.Google Scholar
Barnes, L. G. 2006. A phylogenetic analysis of the Superfamily Platanistoidea (Mammalia, Cetacea, Odontoceti). Beiträge zur Paläontologie, 30:25–42.Google Scholar
Berta, A. 1991. New Enaliarctos∗ (Pinnipedimorpha) from the Oligocene and Miocene of Oregon and the role of “enaliarctids” in pinniped phylogeny. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, 69:1–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boessenecker, R. W. and Smith, N. A. 2011. Latest Pacific Basin record of a bony-toothed bird (Aves, Pelagornithidae) from the Pliocene Purisima Formation of California, U.S.A. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 31:652–657.Google Scholar
Bourdon, E. 2005. Osteological evidence for sister group relationship between pseudo-toothed birds (Aves: Odontopterygiformes) and waterfowls (Anseriformes). Naturwissenschaften, 92:586–591.Google Scholar
Bourdon, E. 2011. The pseudo-toothed birds (Aves, Odontopterygiformes) and their bearing on the early evolution of modern birds, p. 209–234. InDyke, G. and Kaiser, G.(eds.), Living Dinosaurs. The Evolutionary History of Modern Birds. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdon, E., Amaghzaz, M., and Bouya, B. 2010. Pseudotoothed birds (Aves, Odontopterygiformes) from the early Tertiary of Morocco. American Museum Novitates, 3704:1–71.Google Scholar
Bourdon, E. and Capetta, H. 2012. Pseudo-toothed birds (Aves, Odontopterygiformes) from the Eocene phosphate deposits of Togo, Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 32:965–970.Google Scholar
Brinkman, D. B. 2009. A sea turtle skull (Cheloniidae: Carettini) from the lower Miocene Nye Formation of Oregon, U. S. A. Paludicola, 7:39–46.Google Scholar
Brodkorb, P. 1963. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 1 (Archaeopterygiformes through Ardeiformes). Bulletin, Florida State Museum, Biological Science 7, 4:179–293.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1894. On Cyphornis, an extinct genus of birds. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Series 2, 9:449–452.Google Scholar
Cracraft, J. 1985. Monophyly and phylogenetic relationships of the Pelecaniformes: a numerical cladistic analysis. Auk, 102:834–853.Google Scholar
Crowley, B., Barnes, L. G., and Goedert, J. L. 1999. An early Miocene cetacean assemblage from Washington State, and comparisons with other West Coast assemblages. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 19:40A.Google Scholar
Dall, W. H. 1898. Tertiary fauna of Florida with especial reference to the Silex beds of Tampa and the Pliocene beds of the Caloosahatchie River including in many cases a complete revision of the generic groups treated of and their American Tertiary species. Transactions of the Wagner Free Institute of Sciences of Philadelphia, 3, part 4:1–947.Google Scholar
David, L. R. 1956. Tertiary anacanthin fishes from California and the Pacific Northwest; their paleoecological significance. Journal of Paleontology, 30:69–72.Google Scholar
Domning, D. P and Ray, C. E. 1986. The earliest sirenian (Mammalia: Dugongidae) from the eastern Pacific Ocean. Marine Mammal Science, 2:263–276.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, E. M. G., Park, T., and Worthy, T. H. 2012. First giant bony-toothed bird (Pelagornithidae) from Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 32:971–974.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fürbringer, M. 1888. Untersuchungen zur Morphologie und Systematik der Vögel, zugleich ein Beitrag zur Anatomie der Stütz- und Bewegungsorgane, 2 vols. Van Holkema, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Goedert, J. L. 1989. Giant late Eocene marine birds (Pelecaniformes: Pelagornithidae) from northwestern Oregon. Journal of Paleontology, 63:939–944.Google Scholar
González-Barba, G., Schwennicke, T., Goedert, J. L., and Barnes, L. G. 2002. Earliest Pacific Basin record of the Pelagornithidae (Aves: Pelecaniformes). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22:722–725.Google Scholar
Hopson, J. A. 1964. Pseudodontornis and other large marine birds from the Miocene of South Carolina. Postilla, 83:1–19.Google Scholar
Howard, H. 1957. A gigantic ‘toothed' marine bird from the Miocene of California. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Department of Geology Bulletin, 1:1–23.Google Scholar
Howard, H. 1968. Tertiary birds from Laguna Hills, Orange County, California. Los Angeles County Museum Contributions in Science, 142:1–21.Google Scholar
Howard, H. 1978. Late Miocene marine birds from Orange County, California. Los Angeles County Museum Contributions in Science, 290:1–26.Google Scholar
Howard, H. 1984. Additional avian records from the Miocene of Kern County, California, with the description of a new species of fulmar (Aves: Procellariidae). Bulletin, Southern California Academy of Sciences, 83:84–89.Google Scholar
Howard, H. and Warter, S. L. 1969. A new species of bony-toothed bird (Family Pseudodontornithidae) from the Tertiary of New Zealand. Records of the Canterbury Museum, 8:345–357.Google Scholar
Howard, H. and White, J. A. 1962. A second record of Osteodontornis, Miocene ‘toothed' bird. Los Angeles County Museum Contributions in Science, 52:1–12.Google Scholar
Lartet, E. 1857. Note sur un humérus fossile d'oiseau, attribué à un très-grand palmipède de la section des Longipennes. Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences (Paris), 44:736–741.Google Scholar
Lunt, D. J., Valdes, P. J., Haywood, A., and Rutt, I. C. 2008. Closure of the Panama Seaway during the Pliocene: implications for climate and Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Climate Dynamics, 30:1–18.Google Scholar
Matsuoka, H., Sakakura, F., and Ohe, F. 1998. A Miocene pseudodontorn (Pelecaniformes: Pelagornithidae) from the Ichishi Group of Misato, Mie Prefecture, Central Japan. Paleontological Research, 2:246–252.Google Scholar
Matsuoka, H., Koda, Y., Ono, K., and Hasegawa, Y. 2003. Pseudodontorn fossils from Japan, with preliminary observations on the maxilla specimen from the lower Oligocene Iwaki Formation, Fukushima, Japan. Bulletin of Gunma Museum of Natural History, 7:47–59.Google Scholar
Mayr, G. 2009. Paleogene Fossil Birds. Springer, Heidelberg.Google Scholar
Mayr, G. 2011. Cenozoic mystery birds—on the phylogenetic affinities of bony-toothed birds (Pelagornithidae). Zoologica Scripta, 40:448–467.Google Scholar
Mayr, G., Hazevoet, C. J., Dantas, P., and Cachão, M. 2008. A sternum of a very large bony-toothed bird (Pelagornithidae) from the Miocene of Portugal. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 28:762–769.Google Scholar
Mayr, G., Peters, D. S., and Rietschel, S. 2002. Petrel-like birds with a peculiar foot morphology from the Oligocene of Germany and Belgium (Aves: Procellariiformes). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22:667–676.Google Scholar
Mayr, G. and Rubilar-Rogers, D. 2010. Osteology of a new giant bony-toothed bird from the Miocene of Chile, with a revision of the taxonomy of Neogene Pelagornithidae. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 30:1313–1330.Google Scholar
Mayr, G. and Smith, T. 2010. Bony-toothed birds (Aves: Pelagornithidae) from the middle Eocene of Belgium. Palaeontology, 53:365–376.Google Scholar
Mayr, G. and Zvonok, E. 2011. Middle Eocene Pelagornithidae and Gaviiformes (Aves) from the Ukrainian Paratethys. Palaeontology, 54:1347–1359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayr, G. and Zvonok, E. 2012. A new genus and species of Pelagornithidae with well-preserved pseudodentition and further avian remains from the middle Eocene of the Ukraine. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 32:914–925.Google Scholar
Moore, E. J. 1963. Miocene marine mollusks from the Astoria Formation in Oregon. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 419:1–109.Google Scholar
Mourer-Chauviré, C. and Geraads, D. 2008. The Struthionidae and Pelagornithidae (Aves: Struthioniformes, Odontopterygiformes) from the late Pliocene of Ahl Al Oughlam, Morocco. Oryctos, 7:169–187.Google Scholar
Olson, S. L. 1984. A brief synopsis of the fossil birds from the Pamunkey River and other Tertiary marine deposits in Virginia, p. 217–223. InWard, L. W. and Krafft, K.(eds.), Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Outcropping Tertiary Beds in the Pamunkey River Region, Central Virginia Coastal Plain. Guidebook for Atlantic Coastal Plain Geological Association 1984 field trip: Atlantic Coastal Plain Geological Association.Google Scholar
Olson, S. L. 1985. The fossil record of birds, p. 79–238. InFarner, D. S., King, J. R. and Parkes, K. C.(eds.), Avian Biology, vol. 8. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Olson, S. L. 1999. Early Eocene birds from eastern North America: a faunule from the Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia, p. 123–132. InWeems, R. E. and Grimsley, G. J.(eds.), Early Eocene Vertebrates and Plants from the Fisher/Sullivan Site (Nanjemoy Formation) Stafford County, Virginia. Virginia Division of Mineral Resources Publication, 152.Google Scholar
Olson, S. L. and Rasmussen, P. C. 2001. Miocene and Pliocene birds from the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, 90:233–365.Google Scholar
Prothero, D. R. 2001. Chronostratigraphic calibration of the Pacific Coast Cenozoic: a summary, p. 377–394. InProthero, D. R.(ed.), Magnetic Stratigraphy of the Pacific Coast Cenozoic: SEPM Pacific Section No. 91. Society for Sedimentary Geology, Pacific Section, Los Angeles, CA.Google Scholar
Prothero, D. R., Bitboul, C. Z., Moore, G. W., and Niem, A. R. 2001a. Magnetic stratigraphy and tectonic rotation of the Oligocene Alsea, Yaquina, and Nye formations, Lincoln County, Oregon, p. 184–194. InProthero, D. R.(ed.), Magnetic Stratigraphy of the Pacific Coast Cenozoic: SEPM Pacific Section No. 91. Society for Sedimentary Geology, Pacific Section, Los Angeles, CA.Google Scholar
Prothero, D. R., Bitboul, C. Z., Moore, G. W., and Moore, E. J. 2001b. Magnetic stratigraphy of the lower and middle Miocene Astoria Formation, Lincoln County, Oregon, p. 272–283. InProthero, D. R.(ed.), Magnetic Stratigraphy of the Pacific Coast Cenozoic: SEPM Pacific Section No. 91. Society for Sedimentary Geology, Pacific Section, Los Angeles, CA.Google Scholar
Prothero, D. R. and Burns, C. 2001. Magnetic stratigraphy and tectonic rotation of the upper Oligocene–?lower Miocene (Type Pillarian Stage) Clallam Formation, Clallam County, Washington, p. 234–241. InProthero, D. R.(ed.), Magnetic Stratigraphy of the Pacific Coast Cenozoic: SEPM Pacific Section No. 91. Society for Sedimentary Geology, Pacific Section, Los Angeles, CA.Google Scholar
Prothero, D. R. and Hankins, K. G. 2000. Magnetic stratigraphy and tectonic rotation of the upper Eocene–lower Oligocene Keasey Formation, northwest Oregon. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105:16473–16480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prothero, D. R. and Hankins, K. G. 2001. Magnetic stratigraphy and tectonic rotation of the lower Oligocene Pittsburg Bluff Formation, Columbia County, Oregon, p. 201–209. InProthero, D. R.(ed.), Magnetic Stratigraphy of the Pacific Coast Cenozoic: SEPM Pacific Section No. 91. Society for Sedimentary Geology, Pacific Section, Los Angeles, CA.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, P. C. 1998. Early Miocene avifauna from the Pollack Farm Site, Delaware. Delaware Geological Survey Special Publication 21:149–151.Google Scholar
Scheirer, A. H. and Magoon, L. B. 2007. Age, distribution, and stratigraphic relationship of rock units in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1713:1–107.Google Scholar
Shufeldt, R. W. 1916. New extinct bird from South Carolina. Geological Magazine, New Series, Decade 6, 3:343–347.Google Scholar
Snavely, P. D. Jr., MacLeod, N. S., Wagner, H. C., and Rau, W. W. 1976. Geologic map of the Yaquina and Toledo quadrangles, Lincoln County, Oregon. U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map 1–867, scale 1:62,500.Google Scholar
Stidham, T. A. 2004. New skull material of Osteodontornis orri (Aves: Pelagornithidae) from the Miocene of California. PaleoBios, 24:7–12.Google Scholar
Tedford, R. H., Barnes, L. G., and Ray, C. E. 1994. The early Miocene littoral ursoid carnivoran Kolponomos: systematics and mode of life. Proceedings of the San Diego Society of Natural History, 29:11–32.Google Scholar
Welton, B. J. 1972. Fossil sharks in Oregon. The Ore Bin, 34:161–170.Google Scholar
Wetmore, A. 1917. The relationships of the fossil bird Palaeochenoides mioceanus. Journal of Geology, 25:555–557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wetmore, A. 1928. The systematic position of the fossil bird Cyphornis magnus. National Museum of Canada Bulletin, 49:1–4.Google Scholar