Progura gallinacea
| Progura gallinacea | ||||||||
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||
| Pliocene to Young Pleistocene | ||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||
| Progura gallinacea | ||||||||
| De Vis , 1888 |
Progura gallinacea is an extinct Australian large footed chicken . It was closely related to the recent thermometer chicken , but significantly larger. In 1888, this species was described by Charles Walter De Vis using fossil material from the Pliocene and Pleistocene , which was discovered in deposits in Darling Downs and Chinchilla in southeastern Queensland . Material attributed to this species is also known from South Australia as well as from the Wellington Valley and the Wombeyan Caves in New South Wales .
description
The Australian ornithologist and paleontologist Gerard Frederick van Tets estimated the approximate weight to be 5 to 7 kg. The proportions of the long bones were similar to those of the thermometer chicken, but they were larger and more robust. Furthermore, in Progura gallinacea the beak, head and body were relatively wider. The deep keel of the sternum indicates that the giant thermometer chicken was capable of flight.
Systematics
In 1888 De Vis described the taxon Progura gallinacea as a relative of the crowned pigeons ( Goura ) and placed it in the order of the pigeon birds (Columbiformes). In 1889 he described the taxon Chosornis praeteritus as a large foot fowl and in 1891 Palaeopelargus nobilis as a stork species. In 1974 van Tets examined the bone material from De Vis. He recognized the relationship with the big foot fowl and assigned all the material to a species. Chosornis praeteritus and Palaeopelargus nobilis were then synonymous with Progura gallinacea . He also described the taxon Progura naracoortensis on the basis of material found in 1945 in the Naracoorte Caves in southern South Australia . The bones differed from those of Leipoa gallinacea in terms of size and leg proportions. Between 2008 and 2017, P. naracoortensis was synonymous with L. gallinacea .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b G. F. van Tets: A Revision of the Fossil Megapodiidae (Aves), Including a Description of a New Species of Progura . In: Transactions of The Royal Society of South Australia . 98, 1974, pp. 213-224.
- ↑ Rich, PV; van Tets, GF; Knight, F., ed. (1985). Kadimakara: Extinct Vertebrates of Australia. Melbourne: Pioneer Design Studio. pp. 195-199. ISBN 0-909674-26-4 .
- ^ Boles, WE (2008). "Systematics of the fossil Australian giant megapodes Progura (Aves: Megapodiidae)". Oryctos 7: 195-295.
literature
- René WRJ Dekker: Distribution and Speciation of Megapodes (Megapodiidae) and Subsequent Development of their Breeding . In: Topics in Geobiology . 29, 2007, ISSN 0275-0120 , pp. 93-102. doi : 10.1007 / 978-1-4020-6374-9_3 .
- TH Worthy: The fossil megapodes (Aves: Megapodiidae) of Fiji with descriptions of a new genus and two new species . In: Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand . 30, No. 4, 2000, ISSN 0303-6758 , pp. 337-364. doi : 10.1080 / 03014223.2000.9517627 .