Phoebastria anglica ( Lydekker, 1891 )

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 : 159

Phoebastria anglica ( Lydekker, 1891)

Fig. 2A

Material. Right humerus, shaft and slightly incomplete distal part, AaO-3467; left humeri, fragment of proximal part, AaO-2691, shaft, AaO-2690, distal part, AaO-714, fragment of distal part, AaO-2621; left carpometacarpi, proximal part, AaO-2622, distal part, AaO-822; right carpometacarpus, distal part, AaO-2623; right femora, proximal part with pelagornithid vertebrae, AaO-713, proximal part, AaO-2625.

This species is also known from the Bone Valley Formation, Florida , and the San Diego Formation, California, and very numerous remains have been found in theYorktown Formation, North Carolina (Olson & Rasmussen, 2001). Among the five albatross species identified from this locality, P. anglica is the largest. Unfortunately the authors above do not give measurements of elements comparable to those found at Ahl al Oughlam. Published measurements of P. anglica are slightly smaller than those of Diomedea exulans , the Wandering Albatross, and very close to those of D. amsterdamensis , the Amsterdam Albatross. We measured five specimens of Recent D. exulans and a set of subfossil postcranial bones of D. amsterdamensis from at least two different individuals, in the USNM collection. The elements found at Ahl al Oughlam are also characterized by dimensions smaller than those of D. exulans and close to those of D. amsterdamensis ( Table 1). We consider therefore it is possible to assign them to P. anglica .

Figures

Figure 2. (A) Phoebastria anglica, right humerus, shaft and distal part, AaO-3467, cranial view. Phoebastria sp. cf. P. albatrus, B–H: (B) posterior part of cranium, AaO-2626, dorsal view; (C) idem, ventral view; (D) right coracoid, AaO-892, dorsal view; (E) right humerus, distal part, right radius and right ulna, proximal parts, articulated, and two sesamoids, AaO-820, caudal view; (F) phalanx 1 of right major digit of wing,AaO-2631, dorsal view; (G) right humerus, distal part,AaO-716, cranial view; (H) left carpometacarpus,AaO-4800, ventral view. The scale bars represent 1 cm. Same scale bar for B–H.