Pelecanus proavus de Vis, 1892

Louys, Julien & Price, Gilbert J., 2015, The Chinchilla Local Fauna: An exceptionally rich and well-preserved Pliocene vertebrate assemblage from fluviatile deposits of south-eastern Queensland, Australia, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 60 (3), pp. 551-572 : 558

Pelecanus proavus de Vis, 1892

Material.—Unknown missing specimen (described as Pelicanus [sic!] proavus and illustrated in de Vis (1892: pl. 24: 6a, b), probably from Chinchilla, Australia, Pliocene.

Remarks.— De Vis (1892) described a new species of pelican on the basis of two specimens possibly from Chinchilla (see remarks in Gallinula morterii ). Miller (1966b) reviewed the one remaining specimen available for study ( QM F1141), and concluded that it was not referable to Pelecanidae . He compared de Vis’s (1892) illustration of the other specimen, the type of Pelecanus proavus , with the modern pelican and could find no characters to distinguish them. However, Rich and van Tets (1981) disagreed with that assessment due to the quality of de Vis’s (1892) illustrations, and reserved judgement on P. proavus until the original specimen is located, a view we support.

Stratigraphic and geographic range.—Pliocene; eastern Australia.

Order Ciconiiformes Bonaparte, 1854

Family Ciconiidae Sundevall, 1836

Genus Ciconia Brisson, 1760

Type species: Ciconia ciconia (Linneaus, 1758) , Europe, Recent.

Ciconia nana (de Vis, 1888)

Fig. 5J .

Material.— QM F1131 (lectotype, distal right tibiotarsus) and QM F5514 (paralectotype, proximal right ulna) from the north bank of the Condamine River , 5 km from the town of Chinchilla, Australia, Pliocene .

Remarks.—De Vis’s (1888c) description of a stork from Chinchilla ( Xenorhynchus nanus ) was reviewed by Boles (2005), who agreed with the specific diagnosis, but assigned the species to the extant genus Ciconia . Boles (2005) erected the appropriate lectotypes on the basis of Chinchilla material.

Stratigraphic and geographic range.—Pliocene to Pleistocene; central and eastern Australia.

Figures

Fig. 5. Birds from unspecified localities near Chinchilla, Australia, Pliocene. A. Aythya australis Eyton, 1838, QM F1124, left tibiotarsus. B. Leipoa gallinacean (de Vis, 1888), QM F1132, partial carpometacarpus. C. Biziura lobata Shaw, 1796, QM F1125, partial left humerus. D. Anas superciliosa Gmelin, 1789, QM F5550, left coracoid. E. Fulica atra Linneaus, 1758, QM F1129, proximal right humerus. F. Gallinula morterii du Bus, 1840, QM F1138, distal right humerus.G. Charadriiformes gen.et sp.indet., QM F5543, proximal left femur.H. Necrastur alecer de Vis, 1892, QM F1136, proximal right humerus. I. Microcarbo melanoleucos Vieillot, 1817, QM F1130, right humerus. J. Ciconia nana (de Vis, 1888), QM F1131, distal right tibiotarsus. K. Dromaius novaehollandiae (Latham, 1790), QM F56203, third trochlea of the tarsometatarsus. Scale bars 10 mm.