[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index]
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!\"