Rallus philippsi
| Rallus philippsi | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||
| Lower Pleistocene ( Gelasian ) | ||||||||||
| 2.588 to 1.806 million years | ||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||
|
Mohave County , Arizona |
||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Rallus philippsi | ||||||||||
| Wetmore , 1957 |
Rallus philippsi is an extinct species of railing that lived in the Lower Pleistocene ( Gelasian ). It is only known from the holotype, the right tarsometatarsus , which was found at Gray Ranch near the Wikieup Post Office in Mohave County , Arizona .
The kind epithet honors the American ornithologist Allan Robert Phillips (1914–1996), who collected the holotype in 1952.
The head of the tarsometatarsus is slightly porous. This could be an indication that the bone came from a young bird. The 47.4 mm long bone is greyish-white in color and well petrified.
The tarsometatarsus shows similarities with that of the recent rattle rail ( Rallus longirostris ), but otherwise it is clearly smaller.
literature
- Alexander Wetmore: A Fossil Rail from the Pliocene of Arizona In: Condor Volume July 59, 1957
- Storrs Olson: A synopsis on the fossil Rallidae In: Sidney Dillon Ripley: Rails of the World - A Monograph of the Family Rallidae . Codline. Boston, 1977. ISBN 0874748046