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40 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO PALEOBIOLOGY Pr. Edward I Marion I Crozet Is Mauritius Reunion ha ._ Amsterdam I X St. Paul I Kerguelen Is Heard I FIGURE 1.—Location of Amsterdam Island and St. Paul Island in the Indian Ocean. AUSTRALIA
NUMBER 89 41 sis) survive. Both the Soft-plumaged Petrel {Pterodroma mollis) and the Grey Petrel {Procellaria cinerea) are now very rare and are believed to be breeding on cliffs away from cattle trampling. Macgillivray's Prion, listed as Pachyptila salvini macgillivrayi by Micol and Jouventin (1995), is rare and endangered with 100-200 pairs, and the Diving Petrel {Pelecanoides sp.) is very rare, with only one record of a breeding pair. The Antarctic Tern {Sterna vittata tristanensis) breeds on coastal cliffs, and a few Brown Skua {Catharacta skua hamiltoni) nest inland (Jouventin, 1994; Micol, 1995). Fortunately, St. Paul has a small rock stack, Roche Quille, just offshore, that has remained predator free, allowing the precarious survival of the following species of procellariiforms that no longer breed on Amsterdam or on St. Paul: Fairy Prion {Pachyptila turtur, 10-20 pairs), Great-winged Petrel {Pterodroma macroptera, 40-60 pairs), and Little Shearwater {Puffinus assimilis, 25 pairs) (Micol, 1995). The Flesh-footed Shearwater {Puffinus carneipes), previously reported from Roche Quille (Tollu, 1984; Jouventin, 1994), is absent there now, but it is present on St. Paul, where Micol (1995) reported 532 pairs. The White-bellied Storm-petrel {Fregetta grallaria) survives on both Roche Quille and St. Paul in small numbers, and Wilson's Storm-petrel {Oceanites oceanicus) has been found breeding in small numbers on St. Paul (Micol, 1995). Roche Quille has the only other known population of Macgillivray's Prion (100-200 pairs) apart from that on Amsterdam. The survival of several species on Roche Quille and not on St. Paul or Amsterdam suggests that several species of storm petrels, prions, shearwaters, and petrels have disappeared from Amsterdam. Of the remaining 10 breeding species, eight are now rare. Apart from the loss of several procellariiforms from Amsterdam, the only known native terrestrial species, a minute, endemic, flightless duck, Anas marecula (Bourne et al. 1983; Martinez, 1987; Olson and Jouventin, 1996), is extinct. PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS OF THE FOSSIL FAUNA.—The volcanic origin of Amsterdam Island has resulted in the formation of many lava caves, the collapsed roofs of which have in many places formed pitfall traps into which birds have fallen. Fossil bones have been found to be abundant in these sites. The first fossils were collected in 1955 by Jouanin and Paulian (1960), who identified several bones from one individual as a Wandering Albatross {Diomedea exulans). They noted two sizes of Pterodroma (listed as Bulweria): they identified the larger one as P. neglecta, primarily on the basis of size, and the smaller one as P. mollis. Other species identified included Puffinus assimilis, Pachyptila vittata, Pelagodroma marina, Pelecanoides urinatrix, and Anas sp. Lastly, they reported a mummified rail that "crumbled to dust," which they tentatively referred to Crex crex (Linnaeus). Bourne et al. (1983) examined the duck bones reported by Jouanin and Paulian (1960) and suggested that they had some similarity to those of a Garganey {Anas querquedula). Martinez (1987) briefly described the collection of fossils that he made in 1983 and 1984. He listed 17 species: one albatross, two Pro cellaria, three Pterodroma, two Puffinus, two Pachyptila, a Pelecanoides, three storm petrels, a Eudyptes, a Catharacta, and a flightless duck whose bones he described and compared to other ducks, but which he did not name. This collection is the subject of this paper. The fossil sites are all lava caves (Figure 2) that vary in length from a few meters to about 200 m (Figures 3, 4). No radiocarbon dates for the fossils are available, and without dating each site these would not establish the relative ages of all sites. In their absence, however, we make the observation that all bones were found on the surface, and many had organic remains, including dried tissue and feathers on them, suggesting that most are between a few hundred and a few thousand years old. The material was collected without retention of skeletal associations, and, later, Martinez made a preliminary sort of it into species by element. After most Anas and Diomedea bones were removed for independent analysis, the collection was shipped to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (MNZ) (formerly National Museum of New Zealand) for analysis. We describe herein the fossil fauna from Amsterdam Island, detailing the species represented, their relative abundance, and their size (using bone lengths) relative to that of modem populations. Extensive comparative descriptions and mensural comparisons were necessary to justify our specific determinations. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank the Institut Francais pour la Recherche et Technologic Polaires and the administration of Terres Australes et Antarctiques Francaises for providing logistic and financial support. We are grateful to J. Martinez and other researchers for collecting the material and sketching maps of the caves, to J. Palmer for photography, and to J.A. Bartle, MNZ, for encouragement, support, and advice during the course of the project. The following curators generously made available specimens in their care: J. Wombey, Australian National Wildlife Collection, CSIRO, Canberra, Australia; J. Bailey, The Natural History Museum (BMNH), Tring, England; and R. Coory and J.A. Bartle, MNZ, Wellington, New Zealand. We thank A. Tennyson for commenting on an earlier draft of the text, and S. Emslie, D. Steadman, and S. Olson for substantive comments that greatly improved the text. METHODS The Martinez collection is cataloged under numbers MNZ S34560-S35079 in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. One of us (THW) examined it in 1994 and 1995 and is responsible for all identifications, measurements, and comparisons. Material that remained in France, including the majority of the albatross and duck bones, was not included in the analysis. The duck bones are now at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (USNM, housing the col-
Page 1 and 2: »'' § "S^ iFjwtM . •- .m-i Avia
Page 3: SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO PALEOB
Page 6 and 7: ABSTRACT Olson, Storrs L., editor.
Page 8 and 9: EARLY WATERFOWL (ANSERIFORMES) AND
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Page 12 and 13: localities, all of them situated in
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Page 44 and 45: 34 ability in such a way that it ca
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Page 77 and 78: Comparison of Paleoecological Patte
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NUMBER 89 91 anoramphus spp.), Chat
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NUMBER 89 93 TABLE 2.—Land snails
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NUMBER 89 95 counterparts, with som
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NUMBER 89 population, if such exist
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NUMBER 89 99 FIGURE 11.—Skulls of
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NUMBER 89 101 FIGURE 13.—Lower ma
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NUMBER 89 the Chatham Island Pied O
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NUMBER 89 Locality 9, Western Maung
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NUMBER 89 107 yellowish sand (site
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NUMBER 89 109 ogy. Notornis, supple
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112 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO PA
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The Middle Pleistocene Avifauna of
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NUMBER 89 Accordi, B. 1962. La grot
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130 FIGURE 1.—Map showing locatio
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132 Cranium Mandibula Scapula Clavi
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Seabirds and Late Pleistocene Marin
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NUMBER 89 141 METHODS Only strictly
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NUMBER 89 143 FIGURE 2.—Area of s
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NUMBER 89 151 FIGURE 10.—Area of
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NUMBER 89 153 FIGURE 12.—Area of
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NUMBER 89 155 the period studied. T
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NUMBER 89 157 Walker, C.A., G.M. Wr
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164 Vl 620 M 570 £ 520 S 470f •
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166 birds, such as the two species
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170 cional Autonoma de Mexico, for
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174 ated with this specimen, see Mi
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The Fossil Record of Condors (Cicon
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NUMBER 89 179 FIGURE 2.—Geographi
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NUMBER 89 181 FIGURE 5.—Vulturida
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NUMBER 89 183 FIGURE 7.—Referred
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Two New Fossil Eagles from the Late
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NUMBER 89 187 TABLE 1.—Measuremen
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NUMBER 89 189 carpal trochlea relat
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NUMBER 89 191 FIGURE 4.—Holotypic
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NUMBER 89 193 We compared the parat
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NUMBER 89 195 FIGURE 6.—Distribut
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NUMBER 89 197 the Florida State Mus
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A New Genus of Dwarf Megapode (Gall
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NUMBER 89 201 lis hypotarsi along t
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NUMBER 89 203 The fossil is larger
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NUMBER 89 205 Clark, George A., Jr.
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A New Genus and Species of the Fami
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NUMBER 89 209 son with other known
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NUMBER 89 211 FIGURE 1.—Argornis
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NUMBER 89 213 AM AL AM AL AM AL AM
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NUMBER 89 215 caput humeri perpendi
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Selmes absurdipes, New Genus, New S
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NUMBER 89 219 FIGURE 2.—Selmes ab
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NUMBER 89 221 Costae: Deformed frag
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A Fossil Screamer (Anseriformes: An
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NUMBER 89 FIGURE 3.—Chaunoides an
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NUMBER 89 227 B C D FIGURE 6.—The
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NUMBER 89 229 FIGURE 9.—Right tib
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The Anseriform Relationships of Ana
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NUMBER 89 233 Subfamily ANATALAVINA
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NUMBER 89 235 mal was found under t
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NUMBER 89 237 tion, with retroartic
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NUMBER 89 FIGURE 7.—Sternum and p
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NUMBER 89 241 der. The bone is very
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NUMBER 89 243 Eocene records of the
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Presbyornis isoni and Other Late Pa
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NUMBER 89 255 FIGURE 1.—Referred
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NUMBER 89 257 vical vertebrae of th
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NUMBER 89 259 (Olson and Parris, 19
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274 America. Science, 214(4526): 12
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276 concerning the amphicoelous str
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278 ment of the radius that are con
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280 The left coracoid is represente
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284 Kurochkin, E.N. 1982. [New Orde
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288 Palaeontological Institute. [Sp
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290 1991). In this paper we use a "
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Implantation and Replacement of Bir
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NUMBER 89 297 saurs (Figure 1E-G).
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NUMBER 89 299 would seem unlikely a
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Humeral Rotation and Wrist Supinati
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NUMBER 89 303 apparent. It is now c
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NUMBER 89 305 FIGURE 3.—Dorsal vi
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NUMBER 89 307 FIGURE 4.—Wing of t
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NUMBER 89 309 Jura-Museums, Eichsta
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Early Evolution of Birds: Roundtabl
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338 evolved independently twice." M
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