Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T12:46:26.098Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An early heron (Aves, Ardeidae, Ardea) from the Middle Miocene of Nebraska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Jonathan J. Becker
Jonathan J. Becker*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611
*
1Present address: National Museum of Natural History, Division of Birds, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The genus Ardea includes all living species of large herons. Brodkorb (1963) listed five fossil species of Ardea, and only one fossil species has since been described. Of these six, only two are unquestionably members of the genus Ardea. Ardea brunhuberi von Ammon, 1918, from the Upper Miocene Brown Coal Formation, Württemburg, Germany, was moved by Brodkorb (1980) to the Phalacrocoracidae as Phalacrocorax brunhuberi. Brodkorb (1980) considered A. lignitum Giebel, 1860, from the Sarmatian Brown Coal of Rippersroda, Thuringia, Germany, to be a large owl in the genus Bubo. Olson (1985) similarly regards A. perplexa from the Astaracian of Sansan, France, to be a large owl, possibly in the genus Bubo. The type of Ardea aureliensis Milne-Edwards, 1871, from the Oreleanian of Suevres, France, has never been illustrated or restudied and its affinities need to be confirmed (Olson, 1985). The valid fossil species are Ardea polkensis Brodkorb, 1955, from the late Hemphillian Bone Valley Mining District, Florida, and A. howardae Brodkorb, 1980, from the Plio/Pleistocene Shungura Formation, Omo Basin, Ethiopia. A large species of Ardea is also known from the late Clarendonian Love Bone Bed local fauna, Florida, but is based on material too fragmentary for specific identification (Becker, 1985). This note reports the earliest certain occurrence of Ardea now known.

Type
Paleontological Notes
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 60 , Issue 4 , July 1986 , pp. 968 - 970
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Becker, J. J. 1985. Fossil herons (Aves: Ardeidae) of the late Miocene and early Pliocene of Florida. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 5:24–31.Google Scholar
Brodkorb, P. 1963. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 1. (Archaeopterygiformes through Ardeiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences, 7:179–293.Google Scholar
Brodkorb, P. 1980. A new fossil heron (Aves: Ardeidae) from the Omo Basin of Ethiopia, with remarks on the position of some other species assigned to the Ardeidae. Contributions in Science, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 330:87–92.Google Scholar
Elias, M. K. 1942. Tertiary prairie grasses and other herbs from the High Plains. Geological Society of America, Special Paper 41, 176 p.Google Scholar
Matthew, W. D. 1924. Third contribution to the Snake Creek fauna. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 50:59–210.Google Scholar
Olson, S. L. 1985. The fossil record of birds, p. 79–252. In Farner, D. S., King, J. R. and Parkes, K. C. (eds.), Avian Biology, Vol. 8. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, M. F., Skinner, S. M. and Gooris, R. J. 1977. Stratigraphy and biostratigraphy of late Cenozoic deposits in central Sioux County, western Nebraska. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 158:263–370.Google Scholar
Tedford, R. H. et al. In press. Faunal Succession and Biochronology of the Arikareean through Hemphillian Interval (Late Oligocene through Earliest Pliocene Epochs), North America. University of California Press.Google Scholar