Scolopax mira ohyamai ssp. nov. (1 Viewer)

Hiroshige Matsuoka & Yoshikazu Hasegawa, 2018.

Birds around the Minatogawa Man: the Late Pleistocene avian fossil assemblage of the Minatogawa Fissure, southern part of Okinawa Island, Central Ryukyu Islands, Japan.

Bulletin of Gunma Museum of Natural History. 22: 1–21.

Free pdf: http://www.gmnh.pref.gunma.jp/wp-content/uploads/bulletin22_1.pdf

Abstract: 17 avian species belonging to the 10 families of 8 orders were identified in the fossil assemblage of Minatogawa Fissure, the locality of the Late Pleistocene Homo sapiens“ Minatogawa Man” fossils, Minatogawa, Yaese Town, the southern part of Okinawa Island, Ryukyu, Japan. They are: Treron formosae (Columbiformes: Columbidae), Columbidae gen. et sp. indet. (Columbiformes), Phalacrocorax capillatus (Suliformes: Phalacrocoracidae), Nycticorax caledonicus (Pelecaniformes: Ardeidae), Ardeidae gen. et sp. indet. (Pelecaniformes), Gallirallus okinawae (Gruiformes: Rallidae), Porzana fusca (Gruiformes: Rallidae), Scolopax rusticola (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae), Scolopax mira ohyamai ssp. nov. (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae), Circus spilonotus (Falconiformes: Accipitridae), Buteo buteo (Falconiformes: Accipitridae), Otus lempiji (Strigiformes: Strigidae), Garrulus lidthi (Passeriformes: Corvidae), Corvus macrorhynchos connectens (Passeriformes: Corvidae), Hypsipetes amaurotis (Passeriformes: Pycnonotidae), Zoothera major (Passeriformes: Muscicapidae), and Turdus pallidus (Passeriformes: Muscicapidae).
　The avian fossil assemblage of Minatogawa is characterized by dominant forest-ground dwellers. Also the avian fossil assemblage of Minatogawa, that includes the fossils of Gallirallus okinawae (endemic to Yanbaru today), Scolopax mira (endemic to the Central Ryukyu Islands: breeds only in Amami Islands and migrates south in winter and appears on Yambaru
of Okinawa Island and adjacent islands today), Garrulus lidthi (endemic to Amami-Oshima and neighboring Kakeroma and Uke islands today), and Zoothera major (endemic to Amami-Oshima and Kakeroma today) indicates a strong zoogeographical connection between the forest around Minatogawa and Yanbaru, the northern part of Okinawa, and Amami Islands across the straits to the north.
　The fossils of Scolopax mira (Amami Woodcock) from Minatogawa are larger than the recent specimens. Especially the wings and head are developed than the recent population. We establish a new chronological subspecies, S. mira ohyamai ssp. nov., for the fossil form and distinguish it from the recent population, S. mira mira. Transition from S. mira ohyamai to S. mira mira was possibly rapid and occurred in very recent past. It is probable that the transformation from S. mira ohyamai to S. mira mira consequent on the reduction of the range after the Late Pleistocene. The relatively small wings in the recent S. mira mira, might be a result of adaptive selection for the reduced range.

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Fred

SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY

Order CHARADRIIFORMES
Family SCOLOPACIDAE
Genus Scolopax
S. mira ohyamai ssp. nov.

HOLOTYPE. Mb0286, complete right humerus,
PARATYPES. Five paratypes are assigned. All are from the type locality, Minatogawa Fissure. Mb0644, rostrum piece, the basic part of naso-premaxillary; Mb0611, left coracoid; Mb0312, complete left ulna; Mb0399, left carpometacarpus, lacking os metacarpale minus; Mb0615, complete left tarsometatarsus.

ETYMOLOGY. Dedicated to the late Mr. Seiho Ohyama who rendered remarkable services to the paleontology and paleoanthropology of Okinawa. Discovery of the Pleistocene human fossils, Minatogawa-Man, from Minatogawa was the fruit of his ardor.

TYPE LOCALITY. Minatogawa Fissure, Minatogawa, Yaese, the southern part of Okinawa Island, Japan.

STRATIGRAPHIC RANGE. Found from the Upper Pleistocene fissure-fill deposit of the Minatogawa Fissure. The fissurefill deposits has radiocarbon age records of 18,250±650 and 16,600±300 BP (Suzuki and Tanabe, 1982), ca. 20,000-22,000 years ago. S. mira ohyamai changed the form to the recent subspecies S. mira mira and does not exist today. The timing of morphological shift is not known. But, the large number of fossils from Minatogawa that originated from grid to grid in excavations indicate rapid transition from S. mira ohyamai to S. mira mira occurred in very recent past.

REFERRED SPECIMENS. Totally 571 bones including holotype and paratypes.

Fred