A New Albatross from the Miocene of California
1962; Oxford University Press; Volume: 64; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/1365470
ISSN1938-5129
Autores Tópico(s)Marine animal studies overview
ResumoThe geologic record of the albatrosses of the genus Diomedea is so very meager that any new item in it assumes a measure of importance.In 1886, Lydekker began the record with a brief note (Quart.Jour.Geol.Sot.London, 42:366-368) illustrating a complete tarsometatarsus from the Upper Pliocene of England which he designated Diomedea sp.He later designated the specimen as Diomedea anglica (Cat.Fossil Birds Brit.Mus., 1891:189, fig.42).Wetmore (Proc.New England Zool.Club, 22, 1943: 66-67) recorded the same species from the Middle Pliocene of Florida.In 1935, I reported the genus from the Miocene of California (Univ.Calif.Los Angeles Publ.Biol.Sci., 1: 79).The specimen was an imperfect manus preserved as an imprint in diatomaceous shale.It was not given a specific name.The still living Diomedea albatrus has been reported several times from the late Pleistocene and from Recent Indian middens of southern California.Beyond these items scattered over half a century, fossil albatrosses are not known to me.I am greatly indebted to Mr. Joseph Arndt of the Richfield Oil Company for the gift of a number of bird bones from Miocene and Pliocene strata among which is an albatross from Miocene beds known for some time as Sharktooth Hill in Kern County, California.Diomedea californica new species Type.-No.61392, Univ.Calif.Mus.Paleo, the distal half of a left tarsometatarsus.Locality and age.-SharktoothHill, Temblor Formation, Upper Middle Miocene.Diccgnosis.-Larger and stouter than Diomedea albatrus; inner trochlea suggests that the inner toe diverged from the middle toe
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