Biology:Piscator tenuirostris
| Piscator tenuirostris | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Missing taxonomy template (fix): | Piscator (bird) |
| Species: | Template:Taxonomy/Piscator (bird)P. tenuirostris
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| Binomial name | |
| Template:Taxonomy/Piscator (bird)Piscator tenuirostris Harrison & Walker, 1976
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Piscator tenuirostris is an extinct species of cormorant-like bird, the only known species in the genus Piscator.
Discovery
Piscator tenuirostris is known from an incomplete rostrum, the anterior end of a premaxilla, found in Hordle, England, in formations dating to the Priabonian, the final age of the Eocene Epoch.[1][2] This holotype is now at the British Museum.[3]
It was initially described by Colin Harrison and Cyril A. Walker in 1976, and placed in the family phalacrocoracidae.[4] It was placed in class Aves incertae sedis by Jiří Mlíkovský in 2002.[2]
A similar sample was found in the Late Eocene-early Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation in Faiyum, Egypt, but whether this sample represents P. tenuirostris, another Piscator species, or a different phalacrocoracid is unknown.[1]
Description
Piscator was similar to the extant phalacrocoracidae, a piscivorous family of aquatic birds.[4] Remains were found in the Bracklesham Group in Hordle, England, which dates to the Priabonian, the last age of the Eocene epoch.[4][2]
Taxonomy
The genus was introduced by Cyril A. Walker and Colin Harrison in 1976.[4] It was placed in class Aves incertae sedis by Jiří Mlíkovský in 2002.[2] The word piscator is Latin for "fisherman." Other fossils may also represent species in this genus, but they have not been described as such, with some residing in private collections.[4]
P. tenuirostris is the oldest discovered cormorant-like bird in the fossil record.[1] It is the type specimen of its genus, and the only species of Piscator currently described.[1][2]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Mayr, Gerald (April 21, 2009). Paleogene Fossil Birds. Berlin: Springer. pp. 65–67. ISBN 978-3-540-89627-2. OCLC 302080522. https://www.worldcat.org/title/302080522.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Mlíkovsky, Jirí (2002). Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe. Prague: Ninox Press. pp. 268. http://www.nm.cz/download/JML-18-2002-CBE.pdf.
- ↑ Brodkorb, Pierce (1978). "CATALOGUE OF FOSSIL BIRDS". Bulletin of the Florida State Museum Biological Sciences 23 (3): 216. https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/Vol-23-No-3.pdf.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Harrison, C. J. O.; Walker, C. A. (1876). "Birds of the British Upper Eocene" (in en). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 59 (4): 323–351. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1976.tb01017.x. https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-lookup/doi/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1976.tb01017.x.
Wikidata ☰ Q90125332 entry
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