TY - JOUR
T1 - An assessment of the Cenozoic avifauna of Switzerland, with a description of two fossil owls (Aves, Strigiformes)
AU - De Pietri, Vanesa
AU - Mourer-Chauviré, Cecile
AU - Menkveld-Gfeller, Ursula
AU - Meyer, Christian
AU - Costeur, Loïc
PY - 2013/11
Y1 - 2013/11
N2 - The fossil skeletal record of birds from the Cenozoic of Switzerland is rather poor, despite the fact that avian tracks have been described from twenty tracksites. We review the Swiss fossil skeletal avifauna with emphasis put on new material discovered in the collection of the Natural History Museum Basel. This material includes two new owls (Strigiformes), one from a Late Eocene fissure filling from the Gösgen canal, and another from the Late Oligocene of Mümliswil. The Eocene owl specimen consists of a partial, distal tarsometatarsus, and is therefore too incompletely preserved to allow for reliable hypotheses concerning its taxonomic affinities. It does, however, display features resembling members of the extinct family Palaeoglaucidae. The Oligocene specimen is tentatively attributed to the genus Oligostrix, and it is the youngest representative of the extinct family Protostrigidae. Based on the first complete tarsometatarsus for this family, we erect a new species,?Oligostrix bergeri. These two specimens represent the first record of fossil owls from Switzerland.
AB - The fossil skeletal record of birds from the Cenozoic of Switzerland is rather poor, despite the fact that avian tracks have been described from twenty tracksites. We review the Swiss fossil skeletal avifauna with emphasis put on new material discovered in the collection of the Natural History Museum Basel. This material includes two new owls (Strigiformes), one from a Late Eocene fissure filling from the Gösgen canal, and another from the Late Oligocene of Mümliswil. The Eocene owl specimen consists of a partial, distal tarsometatarsus, and is therefore too incompletely preserved to allow for reliable hypotheses concerning its taxonomic affinities. It does, however, display features resembling members of the extinct family Palaeoglaucidae. The Oligocene specimen is tentatively attributed to the genus Oligostrix, and it is the youngest representative of the extinct family Protostrigidae. Based on the first complete tarsometatarsus for this family, we erect a new species,?Oligostrix bergeri. These two specimens represent the first record of fossil owls from Switzerland.
KW - Avian tracks
KW - Eocene
KW - Fossil birds
KW - Oligocene
KW - Oligostrix bergeri sp. nov.
KW - Protostrigidae
KW - Swiss Molasse
KW - Vertebrate ichnology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84891056015&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00015-013-0127-7
DO - 10.1007/s00015-013-0127-7
M3 - Article
SN - 1661-8726
VL - 106
SP - 187
EP - 197
JO - Swiss Journal of Geosciences
JF - Swiss Journal of Geosciences
IS - 2
ER -