FOSSIL STORKS (CICONIIDAE) FROM THE LATE EOCENE AND EARLY MIOCENE OF EGYPT

Two fossil stork tibiotarsii from Egypt, one a late Eocene ciconiid fr om the Fayum Province, and the other a lower Miocene specimen of Lepto ptilos sp. from Wadi Moghara, are described and discussed. The late Eo cene ciconiid specimen marks the first appearance of a stork in the Af rican fossil record and may also represent the earliest fossil stork k nown anywhere. The lower Miocene specimen of Leptoptilos is one of the earliest records of a modern-type stork in Africa, and the first occu rrence of a modern stork in North Africa. The addition of these two sp ecimens, together with other ciconiid material from younger Miocene si tes in Tunisia, gives North Africa the most complete record of fossil storks. The presence of these specimens in North Africa is consistent with paleoenvironmental reconstructions of northern Egypt during the E ocene to Miocene as an area of tropical to subtropical wet coastal low land.