Fred Ruhe
Well-known member
WATANABE Junya, MATSUOKA Hiroshige & HASEGAWA Yoshikazu, 2016
Two species of Uria (Aves: Alcidae) from the Pleistocene of Shiriya, northeast Japan, with description and body mass estimation of a new species
Bulletin of the.Gunma Museum of Natural History 20: 59-72
Abstract:
The genus Uria includes volant wing-propelled diving birds widely distributed in the Arctic and boreal waters in the Northern Hemisphere. It includes two Recent species, U. lomvia and U. aalge, which represent the largest living members of Alcidae, all of which are volant. Compared to other parts of its current distribution, the fossil record of the genus is scarce in the western North Pacific. In this report, two species of Uria, extant U. lomvia and extinct U. onoi, sp. nov., are reported from the middle–upper Pleistocene of Shiriya, northeast Japan. U. onoi is represented by several isolated fossil bones including nearly complete humeri, whose length and stoutness greatly exceed those of Recent species. Body mass estimation based on a scaling relationship of body mass and humerus length in volant alcids resulted in an estimate of ~1.5 kg for the body mass of U. onoi. This value, as well as those previously estimated for several extinct Alca spp. from the Atlantic, exceeds a commonly supposed "upper limit" of body mass attainable by volant wing-propelled diving birds, ~1 kg. These examples indicate that independent evolutions and extinctions of large-bodied species took place in two different lineages of Alcidae and in two major oceans, Alca in the Atlantic and Uria in the Pacific, and demonstrate the importance of incorporating extinct taxa in analyses of evolutionary patterns and morphological diversities.
Free pdf: http://www.gmnh.pref.gunma.jp/research/no_20/bulletin20_2.pdf
Enjoy,
Fred
Two species of Uria (Aves: Alcidae) from the Pleistocene of Shiriya, northeast Japan, with description and body mass estimation of a new species
Bulletin of the.Gunma Museum of Natural History 20: 59-72
Abstract:
The genus Uria includes volant wing-propelled diving birds widely distributed in the Arctic and boreal waters in the Northern Hemisphere. It includes two Recent species, U. lomvia and U. aalge, which represent the largest living members of Alcidae, all of which are volant. Compared to other parts of its current distribution, the fossil record of the genus is scarce in the western North Pacific. In this report, two species of Uria, extant U. lomvia and extinct U. onoi, sp. nov., are reported from the middle–upper Pleistocene of Shiriya, northeast Japan. U. onoi is represented by several isolated fossil bones including nearly complete humeri, whose length and stoutness greatly exceed those of Recent species. Body mass estimation based on a scaling relationship of body mass and humerus length in volant alcids resulted in an estimate of ~1.5 kg for the body mass of U. onoi. This value, as well as those previously estimated for several extinct Alca spp. from the Atlantic, exceeds a commonly supposed "upper limit" of body mass attainable by volant wing-propelled diving birds, ~1 kg. These examples indicate that independent evolutions and extinctions of large-bodied species took place in two different lineages of Alcidae and in two major oceans, Alca in the Atlantic and Uria in the Pacific, and demonstrate the importance of incorporating extinct taxa in analyses of evolutionary patterns and morphological diversities.
Free pdf: http://www.gmnh.pref.gunma.jp/research/no_20/bulletin20_2.pdf
Enjoy,
Fred
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