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On the diverse and widely ignored Paleocene avifauna of Menat (Puy-de-Dôme, France): new taxonomic records and unusual soft tissue preservation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2018

GERALD MAYR Open the ORCID record for GERALD MAYR [Opens in a new window] ,
SOPHIE HERVET  and
ERIC BUFFETAUT
GERALD MAYR*
Affiliation:
Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Ornithological Section, Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
SOPHIE HERVET
Affiliation:
Association Paléovergne, Musée de Menat, Mairie de Menat, 63560 Menat, France
ERIC BUFFETAUT
Affiliation:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 8538, Laboratoire de Géologie de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Mahasarakham University, Mahasarakham, Thailand
*
†Author for correspondence: Gerald.Mayr@senckenberg.de
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Abstract

The Paleocene locality of Menat (Puy-de-Dôme, France) has yielded several avian fossils, which remained poorly studied, even though some were found almost a century ago. Here, we review some of the material in public collections and show that those birds from Menat, which are at least tentatively identifiable, resemble taxa from early Eocene fossil localities. A largely complete skeleton of a medium-sized bird with strong feet shows affinities to the early Eocene Halcyornithidae and Messelasturidae, which are considered to be representatives of the clade including Psittaciformes and Passeriformes. Another skeleton of a small species resembles the Songziidae from the lower Eocene of China, which are representatives of Ralloidea, the clade including Rallidae and Heliornithidae. A new and previously unreported specimen exhibits exceptional soft tissue preservation, in that the bones appear to be largely dissolved but the podotheca of the feet and even the soft parts around the shank are visible; the plumage remains of this specimen furthermore show an unusual bluish hue.

Keywords

Avesearly CenozoicevolutionHalcyornithidaeMesselasturidaeSongziidaetaphonomy
Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 156 , Issue 3 , March 2019 , pp. 572 - 584
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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