THE OLDEST REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GENUS ST RUTHIO (AVES, STRUTHIONIDAE), STRUTHIO-COPPENSI N-SP, FROM THE LOWER MIOCENE OF NAMIBIA

Authors
MOURERCHAUVIRE C SENUT B PICKFORD M MEIN P
Citation
C. Mourerchauvire et al., THE OLDEST REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GENUS ST RUTHIO (AVES, STRUTHIONIDAE), STRUTHIO-COPPENSI N-SP, FROM THE LOWER MIOCENE OF NAMIBIA, Comptes rendus de l'Academie des sciences. Serie II. Sciences de la terre et des planetes, 322(4), 1996, pp. 325-332
Citations number
19
Categorie Soggetti
Geosciences, Interdisciplinary
Journal title
Comptes rendus de l'Academie des sciences. Serie II. Sciences de la terre et des planetes → ACNP
ISSN journal
12518050
Volume
322
Issue
4
Year of publication
1996
Pages
325 - 332
Database
ISI
SICI code
1251-8050(1996)322:4<325:TOROTG>2.0.ZU;2-F
Abstract
Fossil hind limb bones of a didactyl ratite found at Elisabethfeld, a Lower Miocene site in Namibia, represent the oldest known skeletal ele ments of the genus Struthio. The same site has yielded egg-shells of ' 'aepyornithoid'' pattern. This discovery indicates that didactyl ostri ches probably originated in Africa in pre-Miocene times. They subseque ntly spread to Eurasia during the Middle Miocene and later periods.