A new species of Lovebird (Aves, Psittaculidae, Agapornis) from the Plio-Pleistocene of the Cradle of Humankind (Gauteng, South Africa) - 12/09/24

Doi : 10.1016/j.geobios.2024.05.006

Marco Pavia ^a,^b,^c,^⁎ , José Braga ^d,^b, Massimo Delfino ^a,^e, Lazarus Kgasi ^f,^g, Albrecht Manegold ^h, Christine Steininger ^b,ⁱ, Bernhard Zipfel ^b, Aurore Val ^j,^k
^a Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Torino, Italy
^b Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, PO WITS, 2050 Johannesburg, South Africa
^c Research and Exhibitions, Iziko Museums of South Africa, Cape Town 8001, South Africa
^d Centre for Anthropobiology & Genomics of Toulouse, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, Toulouse, France
^e Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
^f Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
^g Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park, 2006 South Africa
^h Abteilung Biowissenschaften/Zoologie, Staatliches Museum Für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, Erbprinzenstraße 13, D-76133 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
ⁱ Genus: DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, PO WITS, 2050 Johannesburg, South Africa
^j CNRS, UMR 7269, Laboratoire Méditerranéen de Préhistoire Europe Afrique (LAMPEA), 5 rue du Château de l’Horloge, 13094 Aix-en-Provence, France
^k School of Geography, Archaeology, and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa

^⁎Corresponding author.

Sous presse. Épreuves corrigées par l'auteur. Disponible en ligne depuis le Thursday 12 September 2024

Abstract

A new parrot species of the genus Agapornis (Aves, Psittaculidae), namely Agapornis longipes nov. sp., is described from the Plio-Pleistocene of Kromdraai, Cooper’s Cave, and Swartkrans in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. The new species is represented by all major wing bones (humerus, ulna, and carpometacarpus) and by the tarsometatarsus, together with a fragmentary mandible and coracoid. The size of the bones indicates a small species of Agapornis with an elongated tarsometatarsus, proportionately the longest of all known species of Agapornis. This lengthening of the legs might be related to feeding adaptation of the extinct species, as the longer legs may have favored this ground feeder in the high and dense grassland characteristic of the Cradle of Humankind during the Plio-Pleistocene transition and the Early Pleistocene.

Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.

Keywords : Birds, Parrot, Osteology, Paleoecology, Cooper’s Cave, Kromdraai, Swartkrans