The first Palaeogene galliform from Africa

Cécile Mourer-Chauviré (1, 2) , Martin Pickford (3, 4) , Brigitte Senut (4)

1 UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
2 PEPS - PaleoEnvironnements et PaleobioSphere
3 CEREGE - Centre européen de recherche et d'enseignement des géosciences de l'environnement
4 CR2P - Centre de recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements

An almost complete tarsometatarsus from the middle Eocene locality of Silica South, Sperrgebiet, Namibia, is attributed to the order Galliformes. This is the earliest record of the order in Africa. It belongs to a stem group galliform and differs from the Recent families. It is compared with Mesozoic birds from America, and Gallinuloididae, Quercymegapodiidae and Paraortygidae from Europe and the Americas. Because the specimen is an isolated bone, damaged proximally, we do not attribute it to a family, but it is clear that it represents a new genus and species of galliform bird, which we name .

Mots clés: Fossil bird; Galliform; Eocene; Namibia; Stem lineage

Cécile Mourer-Chauviré, Martin Pickford, Brigitte Senut. The first Palaeogene galliform from Africa. Journal für Ornithologie = Journal of Ornithology, 2010, 152 (3), pp.617-622. ⟨10.1007/s10336-010-0630-9⟩. ⟨hal-00652646⟩