A PETREL-LIKE BIRD FROM THE LATE EOCENE OF LOUISIANA - EARLIEST RECORD FOR THE ORDER PROCELLARIIFORMES

The earliest known certain record of the avian order Procellariiformes is a Pterodroma-like fossil represented by the distal end of a tibiot arsus, reported herein, from the late Eocene Yazoo Formation of Louisi ana. Sediments bearing this bird appear to have been deposited on the continental shelf far from the Eocene coast line of the Gulf of Mexico , and associated fossils include a sea snake, a primitive whale, numer ous chondrichthian and marine teleost fishes, and a large marine inver tebrate fauna.