Otis sp.
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.3853/j.0067-1975.62.2010.1538 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/4C1D87C7-9630-DA5B-FC83-FB02FDBEFBCB |
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treatment provided by |
Marcus |
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scientific name |
Otis sp. |
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Otis sp. , size Otis tarda Linnaeus, 1758
Fig. 5A–B View Figure 5
Material. Right ulna, proximal part, AaO-766, and distal part, AaO-767.
Measurements. See Table 7.
Comparison with Recent forms. This fossil was compared with the genera having species of large size today in today Africa: Ardeotis , Neotis , Lissotis , Afrotis , and Otis . The proximal part of the ulna differs from those of Ardeotis because, in that genus, there is almost no separation between the dorsal and ventral cotylae, whereas in the Ahl al Oughlam fossil, as in Otis , there is a Crista intercotylaris. On the ventral side, the Impressio brachialis is very deep and forms a fossa which is ventrally bordered by a projecting ridge. In Ardeotis , the Impressio brachialis is very wide and extends to the median axis of the bone. In the Ahl al Oughlam fossil, as in Otis , the Impressio brachialis is narrower, shallower, not bordered by a ridge, and does not extend to the middle of the cranial face of the shaft.
In the genera Neotis and Lissotis , the shaft becomes much narrower distally compared to the proximal part, the Impressio brachialis also forms a fossa bordered by a projecting ridge, as in Ardeotis . The shaft becomes wider again at the distal part, and the tuberculum carpale strongly projects craniad. In the Ahl al Oughlam fossil, as in the genus Otis , the shaft does not become much narrower distally compared to the proximal part.
In the genus Afrotis , the shapes of the cotylae are different. The dorsal cotyla is almost as wide as the ventral cotyla and has the shape of a parallelogram, whereas in the Ahl al Oughlam fossil, as in Otis , the dorsal cotyla is much narrower than the ventral cotyla.
Compared to a Recent Otis tarda , in the fossil the olecranon is less proximally projecting and narrower at its base, and the dorsal cotyla is prolonged distally on the cranial face by a shorter lip.At the distal part, the shape of the articular surface is craniocaudally narrower, and both dorsal and ventral condyles are more distally projecting than in the Recent form. The same characteristic has been described for an Otis sp. from the upper Pliocene of Saint-Vallier, the age of which is similar (Mourer-Chauviré, 2004, fig. 4). Finally, the Tuberculum carpale is situated further in the proximal direction and is dorsoventrally narrower than in the Recent form. The Papillae remigales, or quill knobs, are often very projecting in the Otididae . On the caudal face of the proximal part one can see three papillae, the first one slightly flattened, the other ones circular and very projecting.
Comparison with fossil forms. Otis lambrechti Kretzoi, 1941 , a species comparable in size to Otis tarda , has been reported in several southern European localities ( Hungary, Romania, Austria) dated from MN 18 to MNQ 22 (Mourer-Chauviré, 2004), but no ulna was found in any of these localities. A larger form, Iorotis gabunii Burchak- Abramovich & Vekua, 1981, has been described from the Pliocene (MN 16) of oriental Georgia, but it is larger than the Recent males of O. tarda . The other extinct species of the genus Otis are smaller than Otis tarda .
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