An ameghinornithid-like bird (Aves: Cariamae: Ameghinornithidae?) from the Middle Eocene of Nei Mongol, China

摘要: A new fossil specimen from the early Middle Eocene of an Irdin Manha Formation equivalent (Erden Obo Section) in Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia), China appears to be derived from an ameghinornithid-like species, and may represent the first record of the Ameghinornithidae in Asia. This new specimen exhibits the subcircular lateral condyle outline, the absence of an ossified supratendinal bridge, an enlarged flattened tubercle lateral to the extensor sulcus, and other features shared among known ameghinornithid and ameghinornithid-like birds. The Nei Mongol fossil is roughly contemporaneous with the oldest records of the ameghinornithids from Europe (~48 Ma). The absence of this group of birds from North America, and their occurrence in Europe and Asia during the Eocene contrasts with the contemporaneous Nei Mongol mammalian fauna that is comprised largely of Asian taxa with a few distinct linkages to North America. Along with the record of an ameghinornithid-like bird from the early Oligocene deposits of the Fayum area in Egypt, it seems that this extinct bird group had a much larger geographic distribution than previously recognized.