Columba sp.

Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile & Geraads, Denis, 2010, The Upper Pliocene Avifauna of Ahl al Oughlam, Morocco. Systematics and Biogeography, Records of the Australian Museum 62 (1), pp. 157-184 : 175

Columba sp. cf. C. pisana ( Portis, 1889)

Fig. 5H

Material. Right humerus, distal part and shaft, AaO-2672.

Measurements (in mm): distal width, 10.6; distal depth, 7.3; width of shaft in the middle, 5.2.

Given the current environment of Ahl al Oughlam the presence of members of Pteroclidae could be expected, but the humerus AaO-2672 agrees well with the columbids and differs from the pteroclids because in the pteroclids the entepicondyle projects caudad much more than in the columbids, and it is clearly distinct from the ventral condyle.

The species described by Portis (1889) from Orciano Pisano, in Tuscany, as Falco pisanus , actually corresponds to a columbid (Mourer-Chauviré, in Olson, 1985c). Mlíkovský (2002) placed this species in the genus Columba and he placed it in synonymy with Columba omnisanctorum described by Ballmann (1976) from the Gargano. These two species are almost contemporaneous, early Pliocene ( MN 14–15) for the Gargano, middle Pliocene ( MN 15–16) for Orciano Pisano ( Delle Cave 1996). It is not possible to compare these two species directly because they are not represent- ed by the same elements, but they are compatible in size. The ulna of Columba pisana is slightly larger than that of Recent Columba livia and Columba oenas , and the different elements of Columba omnisanctorum are included in the range of variation of the Recent C. oenas (see measurements in Fick, 1974). Columba palumbus is bigger than both species ( Fick, 1974). In the Ahl al Oughlam humerus the distal width is 10.6 mm whereas in C. omnisanctorum the distal width is 11 mm ( Ballmann, 1976).

Figures

Figure 5. Otis sp. size Otis tarda, A–B: (A) right ulna, proximal part, AaO-766, cranial view: (B) right ulna, distal part, AaO-767, ventral view.Chlamydotis sp. cf. C. mesetaria, C–E: (C) right tarsometatarsus, proximal part and shaft,AaO-2644, caudal view; (D) idem, cranial view; (E) idem, proximal view. cf. Lophotis sp., F–G: (F) right coracoid, almost complete,AaO-768, dorsal view; (G) idem, ventral view. (H) Columba sp. cf. C. pisana, right humerus, distal part and shaft,AaO-2672, cranial view. (I) Catharacta sp. cf. C. skua, right humerus, distal part and shaft, AaO-4793, cranial view. … [caption continued on facing page]