Titanoperdix felixi gen. et sp. nov, Sibirionetta formozovi sp. nov., and Porzana payevskyi sp. nov. (3 Viewers)

[albertonykus]

Zelenkov, N., E. Palastrova, N. Martynovich, A. Klementiev, A. Sizov, and N. Volkova (2023)
A tiny duck (Sibirionetta formozovi sp. nov.), a giant grey partridge (Titanoperdix felixi gen. et sp. nov.), a new rail (Porzana payevskyi sp. nov.), and other birds from the Early Pleistocene of Baikalian Siberia
Biological Communications 68: 261–272
doi: 10.21638/spbu03.2023.406

The paper describes fossil birds from the Early Pleistocene (Gelasian) of Malye Goly locality in the Baikal area of the East Siberia (Irkutsk Region, Russia). This is the first studied bird fauna from the Early Pleistocene of the Northern Asia, shedding the first light on the early Quaternary bird associations of the Siberia. A tiny fossil duck Sibirionetta formozovi sp. nov. is the first fossil representative of the modern genus Sibirionetta, the modern endemic of Eastern Siberia. This find documents the long-time (at least since the Early Pleistocene) presence of these ducks in the region. A new large pheasant-sized phasianid bird Titanoperdix felixi gen. et sp. nov. is a large-sized representative of the grey partridge evolutionary lineage (Perdicini). This find is in agreement with the fact that modern relatively small grey partridges (genus Perdix) are phylogenetically nested within the larger-bodied pheasants. Among other birds from the locality are Tadorna tadorna, three other ducks (including one diving form), Perdix cf. dauurica, Porzana payevskyi sp. nov., Podicipedidae gen. indet., Scolopacidae gen. indet., and Corvidae gen. indet. The assemblage indicates a rather productive water body with mostly open landscapes in the vicinity. The avifauna from Malye Goly does not show any considerable affinity with the Late Pliocene avian assemblages from Southern Transbaikalia and Northern Mongolia, as well as with the Early Pleistocene bird fauna of Eastern China, and thus most likely represents a separate paleornithogeographical unit. Porzana payevskyi sp. nov. is one of the oldest confirmed representatives of Porzana s.s. in the fossil record, supporting the Asian origin of the genus and a probable out-of-Asia dispersal to North America in the Early Pleistocene.

 

[Fred Ruhe]

Free pdf: https://www.researchgate.net/public...om_the_Early_Pleistocene_of_Baikalian_Siberia

Fred

 

[Fred Ruhe]

Systematic palaeontology

Class AVES
Order Galliformes
Family Phasianidae
Genus Titanoperdix Zelenkov, Palastrova, Martynovich et Volkova, nov.

Etymology — From titans, pre-Olympians gods of the Ancient Greek mythology, and Perdix, the modern genus of Phasianidae.

Type species — Titanoperdix felixi sp. nov.

Diagnosis — In the coracoid, the facies articularis clavicularis oriented transversely to the long axis of the bone and thinned craniocaudally; its cranial apex is markedly pronounced and located in the central part of the facies, the dorsocranial angle cut off, and the caudal margin distinctly concave. In cranial view, the articular surface of the facies articularis clavicularis continues slightly laterally (in the form of a short tongue). The impressio bicipitalis protrudes distinctly medially to the adjacent edge of the shaft.

Species composition — Type species only.

Comparisons — The characteristic structure of the facies articularis clavicularis (craniocaudally narrow with concave caudal margin and centrally positioned cranial apex) brings the new genus close to Phasianus and Perdix among the recent Phasianidae. At the same time, the new genus differs from both mentioned genera in the pronouncedly concave caudal margin of the facies articularis clavicularis, and a cranially well protruding apex of the facies (Fig. 2, ap). In Phasianus, the concavity of the caudal margin of the facies may be slightly marked, but the facies is obliquely oriented (as in many other phasianids) and the impressio bicipitalis never protrudes medially, as is the case in the new genus and Perdix. Due to the protrusion of this impressio, there is a concavity between the dorsal and ventral parts of the facies articularis clavicularis in cranial view (as in Perdix). However, the dorsocranial margin of the impressio bicipitalis is distinctly cut (in medial view) in Titanoperdix gen. nov. , while it is not pronounced in Perdix (the margin is always convex or straight in this genus). The large (small pheasant-sized) Early Pliocene Perdix inferna (see Zelenkov and Kurochkin, 2015) is similar to modern Perdix in the shape of the omal part of the acrocoracoid, which indicates the stability of this part of the bone in this lineage since the Pliocene. The orientation of the dorsocranial margin of the facies articularis clavicularis, as in Titanoperdix, and the concavity of the caudal margin of the facies articularis clavicularis, are expressed in many Tetraonini (which are considered close relatives of Perdix; Kimball, Hosner, and Braun, 2021); however, a similar morphology of the processus acrocoracoideus is not observed in this group. The fossil genus
Palaeocryptonyx is similar to Perdix in the shape of the facies articularis clavicularis in medial view (see Zelenkov, 2016c: fig. 1s), but has a non-protruding medially impressio bicipitalis (see Pavia, Gohlich, and Mourer-Chauvire, 2012: fig. 1m, n). Palaeocryptonyx further includes only relatively small-sized species from Europe (Pavia, Gohlich, and Mourer-Chauvire, 2012).

Remarks — The new genus is here erected for a large (the size of the male Tetrao tetrix) bird, partly similar in the morphology of the cranial part of the coracoid with Perdix, Phasianus, and, to a lesser degree, Tetraonini. The structure of the cranial coracoid was shown to be a relatively good diagnostic feature in Phasianidae (Zelenkov and Panteleyev, 2015). In the overall morphology of the cranial coracoid, the new genus is close to modern Perdix. The distinct morphology of the processus acrocoracoideus, observed in the new genus (see above), is however not found in the aforementioned taxa and indicates the existence of a separate lineage of large phasianid birds in the Early Pleistocene of Siberia.

Titanoperdix felixi Zelenkov, Palastrova, Martynovich et Volkova, sp. nov.

Etymology — The species is named in honor of zoologist Felix Ya. Dzerzhinsky (1937–2015), a former professor at the Moscow State University and the academic teacher of N. V. Zelenkov, N. V. Martynovich and N. V. Volkova.

Holotype — PIN, № 2614/313, cranial fragment of a right coracoid.

Type locality and horizon — Malye Goly 1; Baikal Area, Russia; Lower Pleistocene, middle Gelazian (MN 17; MNR1).

Diagnosis — As for the genus.

Dimensions, in mm — The length as preserved, 20.0; width from the apex of labrum glenoidale to the medial apex of the processus acrocoracoideus, 12.9; dorsoventral width of the apex of the processus acrocoracoideus, 8.2.

Description and comparisons — See the diagnosis and comparisons for the new genus above

Fred




Fig. 1. Fossil phasianid birds (Galliformes: Phasianidae) from Malye Goly compared with selected modern and fossil representatives of the family: A, C, F, L, N, Q — Perdix perdix, modern: image A is adjusted to the same absolute size as B–E to facilitate comparisons, whereas image C is in the same scale as B-E to show true size difference between modern and fossil forms; B, G, K — Titanoperdix felixi gen. et sp. nov., holotype PIN, no. 2614/313, Early Pleistocene of Malye Goly; D, I, M — Phasianus colchicus, modern; E, J — Tetrao urogallus, modern; H — Perdix inferna, Early Pliocene of Moldova; O, R — Perdix cf. P. dauurica, specimen PIN, no. 2614/312, Early Pleistocene of Malye Goly; P, S — Perdix dauurica, modern. A–M — coracoids in ventral (A–E), medial (F–J) and cranial (K–M) views; N–S — tibiotarsi in cranial (N–P) and distal (Q–S) views. Designations: ap, apex of the facies articularis clavicularis; dca, dorsocranial angle of the facies articularis clavicularis; fac, facies articularis clavicularis; ib1 — impressio brachialis [rotruding medially relative to the medial margin of the processus acrocoracoideus; ib2 — impressio brachialis not protruding medially relative to the medial margin of the processus acrocoracoideus; t, “tongue” on the cranial surface of the processus acrocoracoideus formed by the facies articularis clavicularis. Scale bar, 10 mm. K–M — not to scale.

 

[Fred Ruhe]

Genus Perdix Brisson 1760
Perdix cf. P. dauurica (Pallas, 1811)

Material — Specimen PIN № 2614/312, distal fragment of a right tibiotarsus.

Remarks — The tibiotarsus can be attributed to Perdix on the basis of size and the general outline of the distal end and its expansion with relatively shortened condyles: in Bambusicola and Galliperdix, which are similar in size to Perdix, the condyles are elongated and the distal end looks mediolaterally compressed. Tetraonini (and, in particular, the closely sized Tetrastes) have an even more extended tibiotarsus and a scar on the pons supratendineus that is moved away from the lateral condyle.
The tibiotarsus differs from the materials on the fossil species P. margaritae Kurochkin, 1985 from the Late Pliocene of Shaamar locality (Northern Mongolia; Zelenkov and Kurochkin, 2009, 2015) by its smaller size. The described specimen is well comparable with the modern Daurian Partridge (P. dauurica), but its exact species attribution cannot be confirmed due to the limited diagnostic value of the distal tibiotarsus in Phasianidae. The divergence time of P. dauurica has been
estimated as 1.67–2.33 Ma (Bao et al., 2010), which corresponds with the age of the Malye Goly 1 locality (Tesakov, 2021). The remains of the Daurian Partridge are also reported from the Early Pleistocene locality Choukoutien 18 in China (Hou, 1993).

Fred

 

[Fred Ruhe]

Order Anseriformes
Family Anatidae
Subfamily Anatinae
Tribe Tadornini
Genus Tadorna Boie, 1822
Tadorna tadorna Linnaeus, 1758

Material — PIN № 2614/324, distal part of a right humerus.

Remarks — Specimen PIN, no. 2614/324 is comparable in size and the overall morphology with small geese (Branta) and Tadornini. It however differs from Branta in the narrowness of the distal end in distal view, as well as in that the fossa brachialis is narrow and positioned close to the tuberculum supracondylare ventrale. Also, the imprints of the pronator muscles in geese are set apart. In these characters the specimen is similar to Tadorna and, in particular, to T. tadorna. T. ferruginea is distinguished by a slightly protruding distally condylus dorsalis, a higher impressio tuberculum supracondylare ventrale, and, in general, a larger size. Based on these differences, assignment to the fossil species T. petrina, which is morphologically rather close to T. ferruginea and belongs to the lineage of Ruddy Shelducks (Kurochkin, 1985; Zelenkov, 2022), seems unlikely.

Fred

 

[Fred Ruhe]

Tribe Mergini
Mergini gen. indet. (?Bucephala sp.)

Material — PIN № 2614/328, incomplete left humerus; PIN № 2614/325, distal fragment of a right tibiotarsus

Remarks — The partial humerus is too fragmentary for a precise identification but agrees with Mergini in the curvature of the preserved part of the shaft, the relative position of the crista deltopectoralis and the distal end of the crista bicipitalis, the shape of the impressio for the m. deltopectoralis on the cranial surface of the bone, as well as the position of the crus dorsale fossae. In size, the specimen corresponds with the middle-sized specimens of Bucephala clangula or Clangula hyemalis. The fossil specimen is characterized by a rather sharp caudal shaft ridge, which occurs as an individual variation in modern B. clangula.
The distal tibiotarsus is a poorly diagnostic element in Anatidae. In the general morphology, the specimen PIN № 2614/325 is closest to modern Bucephala and Mergus, which have a similar distal tibiotarsus. In size, it corresponds to the living M. serrator and larger specimens of B. clangula.
Based on shared similarities with Bucephala in both presented elements it is considered likely that the fossil diving duck from Malye Goly may represent this modern genus. If correctly attributed, this find may belong to the fossil species B. cereti Boeuf et Mourer-Chauviré, 1992 from the roughly coeval (~2.2 Ma; MN 17; Boivin et al., 2010) locality of Chilhac in France (Boeuf and Mourer-Chauviré, 1992), where it is associated with Tadorna tadorna, as is also the case for the Malye Goly avifauna.

Fred

 

[Fred Ruhe]

Tribe Anatini
Genus Sibirionetta von Boetticher, 1929
Sibirionetta formozovi Zelenkov, Palastrova, Martynovich
et Volkova, sp. nov.

Etymology — The species is named in honor of zoologist Nikolay A. Formozov, a former professor at the Moscow State University.

Holotype — PIN № 2614/317, right coracoid.

Type locality and horizon — Malye Goly 1; Baikal Area, Russia; Lower Pleistocene, middle Gelazian (MN17; MNR1).

Diagnosis — A very small species of Sibirionetta, differing from the living S. formosa by a distinctly smaller size and poorly developed (shallower) concavity in

Dimensions, in mm — The least transverse shaft width, 3.5; dorsoventral width of the apex of the processus acrocoracoideus, 4.2. the dorsal part of the sulcus m. supracoracoidei.

Comparisons — An almost complete coracoid belongs to a very small duck, comparable in size to the smallest known Anatidae, such as the modern Nettapus spp. or fossil Mioquerquedula spp. It is noticeably smaller than Anas crecca, the smallest duck in the modern fauna of Eurasia, and is further morphologically distinct from this species and another small Eurasian duck Spatula querquedula. The specimen is here assigned to Sibirionetta by the presence of an elongated and not shifted medially processus acrocoracoideus, as well as by the presence of a fossa in the dorsal part of the sulcus m. supracoracoideus overhanged by the dorsal half of the f acies articularis clavicularis. The depression in the dorsal part of the sulcus m. supracoracoidei may also be present in Anas s.s. and Spatula ducks. However, in Anas s.s., the facies articularis clavicularis always does not overhang the sulcus m. supracoracoidei and the aforementioned depressio in the dorsal part of the sulcus; and the processus acrocoracoideus is shorter. In Spatula, the pit in the dorsal part of the sulcus m. supracoracoidei also does not extend under the facies articularis clavicularis. The fossa, similar to Sibirionetta, is often present in Mareca ducks, but in general morphology, the coracoid of Mareca is more distinct from Sibirionetta than other mentioned genera: the cotyla scapularis is large and located closer to the central line of the shaft; the facies articularis clavicularis in most cases overhangs the sulcus m. supracoracoidei along its entire length; the crest cranial to the angulus medialis is always pronounced; and the processus acrocoracoideus clearly protrudes medially, so that the impressio bicipitalis is exposed medially to the adjacent edge of the shaft. The general outline of the coracoid is markedly more robust in Mareca, while it is slender in Sibirionetta formosa and the new fossil species; the crest on the angulus medialis may be absent as an individual variation in S. formosa (as in the new species).

Fred


Fig. 2.. Fossil anatid birds (Anseriformes: Anatidae) from Malye Goly compared with selected modern and fossil representatives of the family: A, C, H, I — Sibirionetta formozovi sp. nov., holotype PIN, no. 2614/317, Early Pleistocene of Malye Goly: image A is given in the same scale as B, D–F to show true size difference between fossil and modern forms, whereas image C is adjusted to the same absolute size as B, D–F to facilitate comparisons; B, R — Anas crecca, modern; D, G — Sibirionetta formosa, modern; E — Spatula discors, modern; F — Mareca sibilatrix, modern; J — Spatula praeclypeata, Early Pleistocene of Taurida, Crimea (Eastern Europe); K — Anatidae
gen. indet. (magn. Spatula clypeata), specimen PIN, no. 2614/319; L — Spatula clypeata, modern; M — Tadorna tadorna, speciemen PIN, no. 2614/324, Early Pleistocene of Malye Goly; N — Anas platyrhynchos, modern; O — Merginin gen. indet. (cf. Bucephala clangula), specimen PIN, no. 2614/325, Early Pleistocene of Malye Goly; P — Mergus serrator, modern; Q — Bucephala clangula, modern; S — Anatidae indet., specimen PIN, no. 2514/318, Early Pleistocene of Malye Goly. A–L — coracoids in dorsal (A–F, J–L), ventral (G, H), and medial (I) views; M — distal humerus in cranial view; N–Q — distal tibiotarsus in cranial view; R, S — cranial scapula in lateral view. Designations: cs, cotyla scapularis; f, fossa in the dorsal part of the sulcus m. supracoracoidei; fac, facies articularis clavicularis; ib, impressio bicipitalis; pa, processus acrocoracoideus; pp, processus procoracoideus; sms, sulcus m. supracoracoidei. Scale bar, 10 mm.

 

[Fred Ruhe]

Anatini gen. indet. 2 (magn. Spatula clypeata)

Material — PIN No 2614/319, fragmentary left coracoid; PIN No 2614/321, cranial fragment of a left scapula.

Remarks — These remains belong to a notably larger duck, the size of modern Spatula clypeata and thus must be compared with the coeval Early Pleistocene Spatula praeclypeata from the Crimea, which constitutes the oldest fossil record of the Shoveler lineage (Zelenkov, 2022). The coracoid is however too fragmentary for a precise generic identification, and the scapula is not diagnostic enough to distinguish genera within Anatini (Anas s.l.). However, the cotyla scapularis is larger than in the holotype of S. praeclypeata, and the processus procoracoideus is thinner, and hence attribution to that fossil species is not clearly supported. In both these characters, the coracoid PIN, No 2614/319 is similar to modern S. clypeata.

Fred

 

[Fred Ruhe]

Order Podicipediformes
Family Podicipedidae
Podicipedidae gen. indet.

Material — PIN No 2614/326, incomplete right coracoid.

Remarks — The specimen is characterized by the typical morphology of Podicipedidae and is similar in size with the living Podiceps grisegena (see Bochenski, 994), thus being distinctly larger than the fossil P. solidus from the Late Miocene — Early Pliocene of Mongolia (Kurochkin, 1985; Zelenkov, 2013b; 2016a) and the Pliocene species P. discors (Murray, 1967) and P. csarnotanus (Kessler, 2009). The grebe from Malye Goly locality differs from the recent P. cristatus, P. grisegena, P. auritus and P. nigricollis by a dorsoventrally narrow facies articularis humeralis and by the apex of the processus acrocoracoideus not being bent ventrally (although the processus itself is not well preserved, this condition is apparent from the shape of the impressio lig. acrocoracohumeralis, whose cranial apex is not curved ventrally). This morphological peculiarity indicates that the grebe from Malye Goly most likely represents a distinct extinct taxon, but it is too poorly
preserved for a formal description. Closely-sized fossil taxa Podiceps parvus, P. arndti and Aechmophorus elasson were described from the Pliocene of North America (Wetmore, 1937) and should be compared with the taxon from Malye Goly.

Fred

 

[Fred Ruhe]

Order Ralliformes
Family Rallidae
Genus Porzana Vieillot, 1816
Porzana payevskyi Zelenkov, Palastrova, Martynovich et
Volkova, sp. nov.

Etymology — The species is named in honor of ornithologist Vladimir Payevsky of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Holotype — PIN № 2614/327, incomplete right coracoid.

Type locality and horizon — Malye Goly 1; Baikal Area, Russia; Lower Pleistocene, middle Gelazian (MN17; MNR1).

Diagnosis — A large species of Porzana, larger than the living P. porzana and fossil P. botunensis Boev, 2015 and comparable with Rallus aquaticus in absolute dimensions. It further differs from P. porzana by a more elongate shaft.

Measurements (in mm) — Length of the cranial end from apex of the processus acrocoracoideus to the caudal margin of the cotyla scapularis, 5.7; length as preserved, 20.2; least transverse shaft width, 2.2; mediolateral width of the processus acrocoracoideus, 3.5; dorsoventral width of the apex of the processus acrocoracoideus, 3.2.

Comparisons — The holotype coracoid is here assigned to the genus Porzana s.s. due to the characteristic concave profile of the medial margin of the shaft and the gracile processus acrocoracoideus. The former character distinguishes Porzana, closely related Fulica (and apparently constitutes a synapomorphy of this clade) and additionally Crex from all other rails (Zelenkov, Panteleyev, and De Pietri, 2017). The genus Crex, however, may be easily distinguished from the
new form by a medially protruding impressio bicipitalis nd a peculiar outline of the proximal profile of the coracoid (see Zelenkov, Panteleyev, and De Pietri, 2017:. The gracile processus procoracoideus is a characteristic feature of Porzana. The elongate shaft makes the described coracoid closer to the species of Rallus, but the latter genus is easily distinguished from Porzana by a well-developed processus medialis), which
is absent in the new taxon and species of Porzana. The
elongate shaft is also present in P. piercei from the Pleistocene
of Bermuda (Olson and Wingate, 2000).

Remarks — Previously, a number of small-sized Neogene taxa of rails were described within the modern genus Porzana s.l. (Boev, 2015; Zelenkov and Kurochkin, 2015). However, the traditional treatment of this polyphyletic genus is now challenged (e. g., Garcia‑R, Gibb, and Trewick, 2014; Garcia‑R, Lemmon, Lemmon, and French, 2020; Kirchman et al., 2021) and, in particular, several Palaearctic species, which were used as osteological reference, are now classified within a distinct genus Zapornia. This questions the generic attribution of the fossil species described within the traditional genus Porzana. It was shown (Zelenkov, Panteleyev, and De Pietri, 2017) that Zapornia rails, which are not close relatives of Porzana, indeed show a distinctive osteology and, in particular, have a different structure of the coracoid. Two fossil species, Porzana veterior and P. kretzoii, from the Late Miocene of Hungary were moved to Zapornia due to the characteristic morphology shared with this modern genus (Zelenkov, 2017). Other alleged Miocene and Early Pliocene members of Porzana await taxonomic revision. The fossil P. botunensis Boev, 2015 from the Early
Pleistocene (MN 17) of Bulgaria is another confirmed species of Porzana; it is the same size as the living P. porzana (Boev, 2015) and thus is smaller than P. payevskyi. Importantly, P. botunensis and P. payevskyi are the oldest confirmed finds of Porzana in the fossil record in Eurasia, dating to approximately 2.2–2.1 Ma. In North America, the modern species P. carolina is reported from the somewhat younger (~1.8 Ma; Bell et al., 2004) sediments of Inglis 1A locality in Florida (Emslie, 1998), which may indicate an out-of-Asian dispersal of this lineage to North America in the Early Pleistocene. Recently Boev (2015) noted the late appearance of Porzana rails in the fossil record
of North America and thus supposed the Old-World origin of this genus (though this author apparently considered the traditional polyphyletic meaning of Porzana in his evolutionary discussion). The lack of older fossils does not support a more ancient (middle Miocene) divergence of the American P. carolina and Eurasian/Australian species as inferred from previous molecular data (Garcia‑R, Gibb, and Trewick, 2014; see also Garcia-R, Lemmon, Lemmon, and French, 2020). Importantly, the Late Miocene European assemblages of rails do not include members of Porzana (Zelenkov, 2017; Zelenkov, Panteleyev, and De Pietri, 2017), and the Early Miocene European assemblages are even composed of non-rallid ralliform birds (De Pietri and Mayr, 2014). The fossil record thus better agrees with the recent molecular inference, which dates the divergence of Porzana s.s. to the Miocene–Pliocene boundary (Kirchman et al., 2021).

Fred


Fig. 3. Fossil rallid (Ralliformes: Rallidae), podicipedid (Podicipediformes: Podicipedidae) and scolopacid Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae) birds from Malye Goly compared with selected modern and fossil representatives of the family: A, F — Crex crex, modern; B, G — Rallus aquaticus, modern; C, E, H — Porzana payevskyi sp. nov., holotype PIN, no. 2614/327, Early Pleistocene of Malye Goly; D, I — Porzana porzana, modern; J — Podiceps grisegena, modern; K–O — Podicpes sp., specimen PIN, no. 2614/326, Early Pleistocene of Malye Goly; P — Scolopacidae gen. indet., specimen PIN, no. 2614/330, Early Pleistocene of Malye Goly. A–O — coracoids in ventral (A–D, J, K), medial (E, O), dorsal (F–I, L), and lateral (M) views; P — humerus in cranial view. Designations: fns,
foramen nervi supracoracoidei; pa, processus acrocoracoideus; pm, processus medialis. Scale bar, 10 mm.

 

[Fred Ruhe]

Order Charadriiformes
Scolopacidae gen. indet.

Material — PIN 2614/330, distal fragment of a left humerus.

Remarks — The specimen represents a small-sized charadriiform bird, which can be distinguished from Charadriidae by a deeper fossa brachialis, and from Glareolidae — by a longer processus flexorius. In the overall morphology and size, the specimen is close to Phalaropus eleonorae of the Late Pliocene of Northern Mongolia (Kurochkin, 1985; Zelenkov and Kurochkin, 2015) or recent Actitis hypoleucos, but is too fragmentary for precise identification.

Fred

 

[Fred Ruhe]

Order Passeriformes
Corvidae gen. indet.
Material — PIN 2614/292, distal fragment of a left ulna.

Remarks — The specimen is morphologically and dimensionally close to the living Corvus monedula but is too fragmentary for a more precise identification.

Fred