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Paleo hummingbird



HI:
 Sorry, I DON'T have a pdf of the article:

 From the latest issue of the Journal of Ornithology: Vol 148, Number 1, 
January 2007. Please contact the author directly for pdfs.

New specimens of the early Oligocene Old World hummingbird Eurotrochilus 
inexpectatus

by: Gerald Mayr

Email: Gerald.Mayr@senckenberg.de

Abstract: New specimens of the early Oligocene (32 million years ago) stem 
group hummingbird Eurotrochilus inexpectatus Mayr, 2004, are described from the 
type locality Frauenweiler in Southern Germany. One of these is the second slab 
of the holotype, whose existence has been hitherto unknown. The new fossils add 
significantly to our knowledge of the morphology of E. inexpectatus and allow 
more detailed comparisons with other stem and crown group Trochilidae. A new 
apomorphy of the clade (Eurotrochilus + crown group Trochilidae) is described. 
With species successively more closely related to the crown group, the temporal 
sequence of stem group hummingbirds in Europe indicates an Old World origin of 
Pan-Trochilidae. E. inexpectatus is the earliest long-beaked stem group 
hummingbird with hovering capabilities, and absence of modern-type hummingbirds 
before the early Oligocene may provide a maximum age for the origin of 
hummingbird-pollinated plants and the colonization of the !
New World by modern-type stem group hummingbirds.

-- 
Ian Paulsen
Bainbridge Island, WA USA
A.K.A.:Birdbooker 
\"Rallidae all the way!\"