Abstract
The evolutionary history of the extant buttonquails (family Turnicidae) is poorly known. The Oligocene stem representatives of the family differ significantly morphologically from the extant members of Turnicidae and presumably had different ecology and lifestyle. Until now, the only pre-Pleistocene record of the crown-group buttonquails was a find in the Pliocene of South Africa—within the modern distribution range of the group. Here we describe remains of the modern-type Turnicidae from the late Miocene of Hungary, Southern Ukraine, and Northern Kazakhstan. These finds show that Turnicidae, which nowadays are restricted to the subtropical and tropical regions, had much wider geographical distribution in the late Miocene. This range expansion might have been related to the wide spread of the open and arid landscapes during the late Miocene. Importantly, all remains described herein are morphologically similar to the living genus Ortyxelos, which has been considered primitive and now inhabits arid landscapes in Africa. The genus Ortyxelos is thus likely yet another (along with ostrich and some mammals) taxon which now inhabits sub-Saharan Africa, but once had a much wider distribution across Eurasia.
Zusammenfassung
Laufhühnchen (Charadriiformes, Turnicidae) aus dem späten Miozän der gemäßigten Breiten Eurasiens. Über die Evolutionsgeschichte der Laufhühnchen (Familie Turnicidae) ist nur wenig bekannt Die oligozänen Stammformen der Familie unterscheiden sich morphologisch deutlich von den rezenten Vertretern der Turnicidae und besaßen vermutlich eine andere Ökologie und Lebensweise. Bis vor kurzem war ein Fund aus dem Pliozän Südafrikas-innerhalb des heutigen Verbreitungsgebietes der Gruppe-der einzige prä-pleistozäne Nachweis der Laufhühnchen-Kronengruppe. Hier beschreiben wir Fossilien vom Typ der modernen Turniciden aus dem späten Miozän aus Ungarn, der Südukraine und aus Nordkasachstan. Diese Funde zeigen, dass die Turniciden, welche heute auf tropische und subtropische Regionen beschränkt sind, im Spätmiozän deutlich weiter verbreitet waren. Diese Arealerweiterung könnte mit der großen Ausdehnung offener und arider Landschaftstypen während des Spätmiozäns zusammenhängen. Es ist von Bedeutung, dass alle hier beschriebenen Fossilien morphologisch der Gattung Ortyxelos ähneln, welche als ursprünglich gilt und heute aride Landstriche in Afrika bewohnt. Somit ist die Gattung Ortyxelos (neben Afrikanischem Strauß und einigen Säugetieren) ein weiteres Taxon, welches heute das subsaharische Afrika besiedelt, einst aber viel weiter über Eurasien verbreitet war.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to László Makádi, Bodor Emese, and Palotás Klára for their assistance and for providing access to the collections of fossil birds in the Geological and Geophysical Institute of Hungary, and also to Christine Lefèvre for allowing access to the comparative osteological collection of birds in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris). The authors are further deeply indebted to Maxim V. Sinitsa (National Museum of Natural History at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Kyiv) for collecting bird fossils in Egorovka localities and bringing them to our attention, and also for valuable comments on the manuscript. We are also grateful to Estelle Bourdon and an anonymous reviewer whose comments improved the manuscript. This study was supported by a grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project 14-04-01223).
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Zelenkov, N.V., Volkova, N.V. & Gorobets, L.V. Late Miocene buttonquails (Charadriiformes, Turnicidae) from the temperate zone of Eurasia. J Ornithol 157, 85–92 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-015-1251-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-015-1251-0