New cranial material of the earliest filter feeding flamingo Harrisonavis croizeti (Aves, Phoenicopteridae) informs the
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
New cranial material of the earliest filter feeding flamingo Harrisonavis croizeti (Aves, Phoenicopteridae) informs the evolution of the highly specialized filter feeding apparatus Chris R. Torres 1,2 & Vanesa L. De Pietri 3 & Antoine Louchart 4,5 & Marcel van Tuinen 1,6,7
Received: 10 September 2014 / Accepted: 5 March 2015 # Gesellschaft für Biologische Systematik 2015
Abstract The Oligo-Miocene flamingo Harrisonavis croizeti represents an intermediate form between the highly specialized extant flamingo cranial morphology and the more generalized ancestral phoenicopteriform one, characterized by the extinct taxon Palaelodus. However, the original description of H. croizeti lacked detail and the lectotypic skull was lost; thus, it is not known how the ancestral phoenicopterid cranial morphology differed from that of recent forms. Here, we describe new cranial material from Oligo-Miocene deposits of France, including a mostly complete skull with an articulated upper bill, a disarticulated upper bill, and pieces of lower bill. We assign this material to H. croizeti and compare it to all previously reported fossil flamingo cranial material as well as to all six living species. We also use 3D computed tomographic data to reconstruct the skull of H. croizeti in three dimensions. The skull and bill of H. croizeti are similar to those of living species, although they display less specialized filter feeding traits, including a straighter bill
* Chris R. Torres [email protected] 1
Department of Biology & Marine Biology, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA
2
Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
3
School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
with less surface area for filtration lamellae and points of articulation with the lower bill which are less developed. The less specialized form of H. croizeti suggests the extant Phoenicopterus retains a skull morphology more similar to the ancestral condition of crown group flamingos, and the extant Phoenicoparrus form is more derived.
Keywords Fossil birds . Miocene . Ecology . Bill morphology . Computed tomography . Saint-Gérand-le-Puy
Introduction The Phoenicopteridae are a clade of wading birds with a specialized filter feeding ecology. The unique bill of phoenicopterid flamingos is markedly decurved with a lower bill that is much deeper than the upper. The inside margins of the bill are lined with rows of keratinous lamellae which form
4
Palgene (CNRS/ENS de Lyon)/Team Paleo-Genomics (CNRS UMR 5553), Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
5
Team Evo-devo of vertebrate dentition (CNRS UMR 5242), Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
6
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC, USA
7
Centre of Evolutionary and Ecological Studies, Marine Evolution and Conservation Group, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
C.R. Torres et al.
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