Abstract
New fossils of the podargiform Masillapodargus longipes are described from the early Eocene German fossil site Messel. Previously unreported skeletal details of this species confirm its assignment to Podargiformes (frogmouths), and especially the wing and pectoral girdle bones exhibit close similarities to crown group Podargiformes. Here, I show that the postcranial skeletal morphology of Masillapodargus is quite different from that of the early Eocene North American taxon Fluvioviridavis, for which podargiform affinities were recently proposed. With regard to the morphologies of the humerus and the coracoid, Fluvioviridavis more closely resembles Steatornithiformes (oilbirds). These may be plesiomorphic similarities, if Steatornithiformes and Podargiformes are sister taxa as recently suggested. Both podargiform affinities of Fluvioviridavis, as well as a sister group relationship between Podargiformes and Steatornithiformes, are, however, only weakly based. A well-founded classification of Fluvioviridavis depends on a better understanding of the basal divergences within extant Strisores, the clade including “caprimulgiform” and apodiform birds, which remain controversial.
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Acknowledgements
I thank E. Brahm, S. Schaal (both SMF), and N. Micklich (HLMD) for the loan of the fossils and S. Tränkner for taking the photographs. I am further indebted to I. Weidig for a photo of the Field Museum specimen of Fluvioviridavis platyrhamphus. The manuscript benefited from comments by M. Pavia and an anonymous reviewer.
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Mayr, G. Eocene fossils and the early evolution of frogmouths (Podargiformes): further specimens of Masillapodargus and a comparison with Fluvioviridavis . Palaeobio Palaeoenv 95, 587–596 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-015-0200-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-015-0200-5