Struthio cf. karatheodoris Forsyth Major, 1888

Boev, Zlatozar & Spassov, Nikolaï, 2009, First record of ostriches (Aves, Struthioniformes, Struthionidae) from the late Miocene of Bulgaria with taxonomic and zoogeographic discussion, Geodiversitas 31 (3), pp. 493-507 : 498-500

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5252/g2009n3a1
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5485128
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/AC172A2F-FFBC-4028-B726-FE13FDC5549E
treatment provided by	Marcus
scientific name	Struthio cf. karatheodoris Forsyth Major, 1888
status

Treatment

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotypefemur, from Samos 1. Said to be in the Barbey collection (Lambrecht 1933: 100); present location unknown ( Mlíkovský 2002).

TYPE HORIZON. — Late Miocene ( MN 11) ( Mlíkovský 2002).

TYPE LOCALITY. — Samos 1, Samos Island (southeastern Greece).

NEW DIAGNOSIS. — Fossil late Miocene ostrich of large size, only smallerthan S. novorossicus , more bipedal, with better developed fourth toe; more robust pedal phal. in comparison to S. camelus .

OTHER MATERIALEXAMINED. — Kalimantsi :tmt. dex. dist. (epiphysis, completearticular end) ad., NMNHS 16371 ( Fig. 2 View FIG ) ; fromthe middle Turolian of the fossiliferous area near Kalimantsi village ( Blagoevgrard Region , 43.17’N, 27.44’E; UTM grid: NH 59; c. 300 m a.s.l.). — Hadzhidimovo: phal. 1 dig. 3 ped. sin. (almost complete) ad., NMNHS 16372 ( Fig. 2 View FIG ) ; from the base of the middle Turolian or the early-middle Turolian boundary at Tumbichkite (HD-2), near the town of Hadzhidimovo ( Blagoevgrard Region , 41.30’N, 23.52’E; UTM grid: GM 30; 500 m a.s.l.). Both sites represent the richest Bulgarian localities of the so-called “ Hipparion -fauna”. The two specimens are morphometrically similar to each other, and theirrelatively closechronostratigraphic position indicates that they are referrable to the same fossil species .

Both specimens were collected in the 1980’s by D. Kovachev.

LOCALITIES. — Thefossiliferous area around Kalimantsi village in the Middle Struma basin covers a large region (c. 6 km 2) of late Miocene depositsincluding more than 10 known fossil mammal localities (labelled KM sites). Recentbiostratigraphicrevisiondemonstrates thatall KM sites are of Turolian age. KM-1, belonging to the newly established Gradishte lithocomplex, is likely to yield a fauna of early Turolian age, while other KM faunas (referred to the Strumyani Genetic Lithocomplex) are consideredto belong tothe middle Turolian ( Tzankov et al. 2005; Spassov et al. 2006). Themiddle Turolianfauna of KM is presented by c. 10 different localities, which are faunally dominated by Gazella sp. , Cremohipparion mediterraneum (Roth & Wagner, 1855) and Hippotherium brachypus (Hensel, 1862) , and which also contain Tragoportax cf. amalthea, Palaeoreas lindermayeri (Wagner, 1848) , Helladotherium duvernoyi (Gaudry & Lartet, 1856) , Bohlinia attica (Gaudry & Lartet, 1856) , Adcrocuta eximia (Roth & Wagner, 1854) , Mesopithecus pentelicus Wagner, 1839 , andother species ( Spassov et al. 2006). NMNHS 16371 comes from horizons of middle Turolian age and is probably slightly younger than NMNHS 16372.

Hadzhidimovo is a late Miocene site with three fossil vertebrate localities: HD-1, HD-2 (Tumbichkite) and HD-3. The main locality, HD-1 (from which more than 30 mammal species have been reported), is dated to the MN 11/12 boundary ( Spassov 2002). The other two localities could be of slightly different age; HD-2 is several tensof metres higher thanthe level of HD-1. The fauna of the locality consists of Gazella sp. , Palaeoreas lindermayeri , Tragoportax rugosifrons (Schlosser, 1904) , Helladotherium duvernoyi , Hipparion / Cremohipparion spp. (probably H. brachypus and C. mediterraneum ), Ancylotherium pentelicum (Gaudry & Lartet, 1856) , Deinotherium gigantissimum Stefanescu,1892 and Choerolophodonpentelici (Gaudry & Lartet, 1856) . Theoccurrence of P. lindermayeri and C. pentelici further suggeststhat HD-2 is younger than HD-1 ( Geraads et al. 2003; Markov 2004).