Original paper
First Old World record of the poorly known, swan-sized anseriform bird Paranyroca from the late Oligocene/early Miocene of France
Mayr, Gerald; Smith, Thierry
Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen Band 286 Heft 3 (2017), p. 349 - 354
published: Dec 1, 2017
ArtNo. ESP155028603004, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
A tarsometatarsus of a large anseriform bird from the late Oligocene/early Miocene of the Saint-Gérand-le-Puy area in France is assigned to the distinctive taxon Paranyroca, which was before only known from the early Miocene of North America.Paranyroca may be a stem group representative of Anatidae and its tarsometatarsus exhibits a peculiar character mosaic, with an Anhimidae-like hypotarsus and an Anatidae-like distal end. With regard to these features, the bone resembles the tarsometatarsus of another anseriform bird from Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, which was described as Cygnopterus alphonsi but has not yet been compared with Paranyroca in the original description. C. alphonsi was originally identified as a swan, but this classification has subsequently been contested and here it is proposed that the species is more closely related to Paranyroca.
Keywords
anseriformes • cygnopterus alphonsi • fossil birds • saint-gérand- le-puy • paranyroca magna