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NUMBER 89 11
FIGURE 4 (opposite).—Fossils of herons, ibis, and tropicbird from the Mascarene
Islands. Nycticorax duboisi: a, left humerus, Marais de l'Ermitage,
1826, palmar view; b. right ulna, Marais de l'Ermitage, 1828, internal view; c,
right tibiotarsus, Marais de l'Ermitage, 1829, anterior view; d, right femur,
Marais de l'Ermitage, 1827, posterior view; e, left tarsometatarsus, distal part,
Marais de l'Ermitage, 1865, anterior view;/ right tarsometatarsus, Marais de
rErmitage, 1916, anterior view; g, same, posterior view; h, right scapula,
Grotte de l'Autel, 330516, dorsal view. Nycticorax mauritianus: i, left femur,
Mare aux Songes, MNHN MAD-6563, posterior view;/ right tarsometatarsus,
Mare aux Songes, MNHN MAD-7080, anterior view. Threskiornis solitarius:
k, right coracoid, Grotte de l'Autel, 330510, anterior view; /, same, posterior
view; m, left scapula, Marais de l'Ermitage, 1909, ventral view; n, mandible,
anterior part, Marais de l'Ermitage, 1872, right lateral view; o, same, dorsal
view; p, left humerus, proximal part, Marais de l'Ermitage, 1908, anconal
view; q, right carpometacarpus, Grotte de l'Autel, 330511, internal view; r,
right ulna, proximal part, Marais de l'Ermitage, 1806, palmar view; s, left
quadrate, Marais de l'Ermitage, 1913, posterior view. Phaethon lepturus: t, left
coracoid, Grotte de l'Autel, 330515, posterior view. All figures are natural size.
much like those of a specimen of T. spinicollis (USNM
429720), in which the tarsometatarsi are shorter, with more
splayed trochleae than in another individual of the same species
examined, although in T. solitarius the trochleae are still
more splayed. Indices for the tarsometatarsus (Table 5) show
that its distal part is proportionally wider, and its shaft width
proportional to depth is greater, in T. solitarius than in T aethiopicus
or T. spinicollis.
The various pectoral elements so far known, with one exception,
do not indicate any reduction in flying ability; the coracoid
is elongated and the proximal parts of the humerus and
ulna are very robust. The only possible indication of a reduction
in flying ability is the occurrence of an accessory foramen
in the symphysis between the alular and the major metacarpal
(Mourer-Chauvire et al., 1995b). To our knowledge this foramen
exists only in flightless forms. It is present in Palaeotis
weigelti Lambrecht, a flightless fossil ratite from the Eocene of
Germany, and it also is regularly present in Struthio, in the
Spheniscidae, and occasionally in Rhea (Houde and Haubold,
1987). It also exists in Sylviornis neocaledoniae Poplin, a giant,
flightless, extinct galliform from New Caledonia (Poplin
and Mourer-Chauvire, 1985).
The ibis of Reunion was probably much heavier than the living
members of the genus Threskiornis. It was perhaps flightless
in its behavior, but, apart from this accessory foramen, this
had not yet led to osteological consequences.
Family PHOENICOPTERIDAE
Genus Phoenicopterus Linnaeus
Phoenicopterus ruber Linnaeus, 1758
Greater Flamingo
MATERIAL.—Marais de l'Ermitage. Male-sized fossils: Articular
part of 1. mandible, 1906; r. p. tarsometatarsus, 1840; r.
s. tarsometatarsus, 1904; 1. j. tarsometatarsus, 1907; 1. d. tar­
sometatarsus, 1842. Female-sized fossils: r. s. humerus, 1856;
1. d. humerus, 1877; r. d. ulna, 1878; 1. p. ulna, 1905; r. carpometacarpus,
1880; r. p. tibiotarsus, 1898; r. d. tibiotarsus,
1839; r. d. tibiotarsus, 1900; 1. d. tibiotarsus, 1897; 3 1. d. tibiotarsi
(2 j.), 1838, 1847, 1899; 1. d. tarsometatarsus with medullary
bone, 1902; r. d. tarsometatarsus, 1901; 5 1. d. tarsometatarsi,
1844, 1860, 1861, 1862, 1903. Male- or female-sized
fossils: 1. quadrate, 1887; fragment of sternum, 1854; fragment
of pelvis, 1855; r. scapula, 1876; 1. scapula, 1852; 3 s. ulna,
1845, 1849, 1879; p. radius, 1843; 2 d. radii, 1848, 1881; 1. d.
carpometacarpus, 1864; r. s. tibiotarsus, 1857; 1. s. tibiotarsus,
1846; 2 1. d. tibiotarsi, 1858, 1859; r. s. tarsometatarsus, 1863;
r. d. j. tarsometatarsus, 1841; 6 fragments of tarsometatarsi,
1851, 1882-1886; j. pedal phalanx, 1853.
REMARKS.—The size and shape of the fossils correspond to
Phoenicopterus ruber, the Greater Flamingo, and differ from
Phoeniconaias minor Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, the Lesser Flamingo.
Among the tarsometatarsi of female size, one that is
broken into two pieces shows a deposit of medullary bone inside
the shaft. Such medullary bone tissue develops in practically
all the bones of the skeleton of a female bird 10 to 14 days
before egg laying. It constitutes a reserve of calcium that is
used during the laying period to produce the eggshell, and it is
very quickly resorbed as soon as egg laying is over (Simkiss,
1967; Rick, 1975). The presence of medullary bone indicates
that Greater Flamingos formerly nested on Reunion, probably
at or near the spot where the Marais de l'Ermitage is now,
which, on some old maps of the island, is shown as a pond that
persisted at least until the eighteenth century. The flamingo
material also includes bones from juveniles.
Greater Flamingos are mentioned several times in historical
accounts on Reunion (Lougnon, 1970, 1992), and Feuilley indicated
that there were 3000 to 4000 of them in 1704 on the Etang
du Gol (Barre and Barau, 1982). They disappeared between
1710 and 1730 (Cheke, 1987). They also have been
found as fossils on Mauritius (the distal end of an ulna from
Mare aux Songes is in the MNHN, MAD 6573), whence the
resident population disappeared around 1758 (Cheke, 1987).
Family ANATIDAE
Genus Alopochen Stejneger
Alopochen (Mascarenachen) kervazoi (Cowles, 1994),
new combination
Kervazo's Egyptian Goose
FIGURE lf-n
MATERIAL.—Grotte des Premiers Francais. Holotype: Fragment
of rostrum, 1993-19. Paratypes: Sternum, 2 anterior
parts, 1993-22, 1993-24; sternum, posterior part, 1993-25; furcula,
1993-21; cervical vertebra, 1993-27; r. carpometacarpus,
with thickened bony knob, 1993-20; 1. carpometacarpus, 1993-