A roller-like bird (Coracii) from the Early Eocene of Denmark.
The fossil record of crown group birds (Neornithes) prior to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary is scarce and fragmentary. Early Cenozoic bird fossils are more abundant, but are typically disarticulated and/or flattened. Here we report the oldest roller (Coracii), Septencoracias morsensis gen. et sp. nov. (Primobucconidae), based on a new specimen from the Early Eocene (about 54 million years ago) Fur Formation of Denmark. The new fossil is a nearly complete, three-dimensionally preserved and articulated skeleton. It lies at the lower end of the size range for extant rollers. Salient diagnostic features of Septencoracias relative to other Coracii include the proportionally larger skull and the small, ovoid and dorsally positioned narial openings. Our discovery adds to the evidence that the Coracii had a widespread northern hemisphere distribution in the Eocene. Septencoracias is the oldest substantial record of the Picocoraciae and provides a reliable calibration point for molecular phylogenetic studies.
The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Section of Biosystematics, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Estelle
E
Bourdon
Geological Institute (now Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management), University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Anette V
AV
Kristoffersen
The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Section of Biosystematics, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.|Fur Museum (Muserum Salling), DK-7884 Fur, Denmark.
Niels
N
Bonde
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