Rhea mesopotamica

Rhea mesopotamica is an extinct species of bird in the genus Rhea, whose living species are known as suris, rhea, or choiques. It lived in the Southern Cone of South America.

Rhea mesopotamica
Temporal range: Late Miocene,
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Infraclass: Palaeognathae
Order: Rheiformes
Family: Rheidae
Genus: Rhea
Species:
†R. mesopotamica
Binomial name
†Rhea mesopotamica
(Agnolín & Noriega, 2012)
Synonyms
  • Rhea (Pterocnemia) mesopotamica
  • Pterocnemia mesopotamica

Taxonomy

This species was originally described in 2012 by paleontologists Federico L. Agnolín and Jorge I. Noriega, under the scientific name of Pterocnemia mesopotamica.[1] This generic taxon is mostly considered to be included in Rhea.[2][3]

Holotype

The designated holotype is cataloged as: MACN-Pv 12743, and consists of the distal end of the right tarsometatarsus. It is deposited in the paleontological collections of the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences "Bernardino Rivadavia" (MACN), located in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.[1] The following materials are also referred:

  • 41-XII-13-928 (distal end of left tarsometatarsus);
  • MACN-Pv 12735 (distal end of right tarsometatarsus);
  • MACN-Pv 12737 (distal end of juvenile left tarsometatarsus);
  • MACN-Pv 12740 (distal end of juvenile left tarsometatarsus without trochlea IV).

In the same location and horizon, fragmentary remains of a femur and a humerus were also found, identified as Rheidae indet.

Type locality

The type locality is ravines of the Paraná Toma Vieja River, north of the city of Paraná, province of Entre Ríos, in the Mesopotamian region of northeast Argentina.

Estimated characteristics

The remains found are thought to have belonged to a bird with a thin and small body, and a similar appearance to that of the short rhea or Patagonian rhea (R. pennata), and is characterized by the marked divergence of the tarsometatarsal trochlea.[1]

Etymology

Etymologically, the specific term is a toponym that refers to the region from which the type specimen comes: Argentine Mesopotamia.[1]

Geographic distribution, age, and stratigraphic origin

Their remains were exhumed in strata corresponding to the base of the Ituzaingó Formation, levels that are informally denominated as "Ossiferous Conglomerate" or "Mesopotamian",[4] which outcrops in the Entre Rios ravines of the Paraná River. These sedimentary deposits were attributed an antiquity corresponding to the late Miocene or higher ( Huayquerian Age).[5]

Another material, referred to as: FMNH-PA-36 (MHNT s / nº, copy of the previous one), is an isolated complete left tarsometatarsus, collected in 1952 by José Luis Minoprio and Bryan Patterson. It comes geographically from the Corral El Aguacito area, close to the Zitro Mine, 3.5 km north of the Atuel River canyon, in the province of Mendoza (central-western Argentina). It comes stratigraphically from the Aisol Formation, which is ascribed to the middle to late Miocene.[6] Due to its characteristics, it was assigned to: Pterocnemia cf. P. mesopotamica (= Rhea cf. R. mesopotamica). In case of belonging to this species, its biochron begins to extend into the past, being then understood from the late Miocene (Huayquerian Age) to the Middle Miocene (Friasense Age).

References
  1. Agnolín, Federico L. & Jorge I. Noriega (2012). «Una nueva especie de ñandú (Aves: Rheidae) del Mioceno tardío de la Mesopotamia Argentina». Ameghiniana 49 (2): 236–246.
  2. Sibley, C. G., & Monroe, B. L. (1990). Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. Yale University Press.
  3. Rheidae en A Classification of the Bird Species of South America, South American Classification Committee, American Ornithologists' Union (consultado el 21 de agosto de 2015).
  4. Frenguelli, 1920. Contribución al conocimiento de la geología de Entre Ríos. Boletín de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Córdoba 24: 55– 256.
  5. Cione, A.L., Azpelicueta, M.M., Bond., M., Carlini, A.A., Casciotta, J.R., Cozzuol, M.A., de la Fuente, M., Gasparini, Z., Goin, F.J., Noriega, J.I., Scillato Yané, G.J., Soibelzon, L., Tonni, E.P., Verzi, D. y Vucetich, M.G. 2000. Miocene vertebrates from Entre Ríos Province, eastern Argentina. En: F.G. Aceñolaza y R. Herbst (Eds.), El Neógeno de Argentina, Serie de Correlación Geológica INSUGEO 14: 191–237.
  6. Forasiepi, A.M., Martinelli, A.G., de la Fuente, M., Diéguez, S. y Bond, M. 2011. Paleontology and stratigraphy of the Aisol Formation (Neogene), San Rafael, Mendoza. En: J.A. Salfity y R.A. Marquillas (Eds.), Cenozoic Geology of the Central Andes of Argentina, SCS Publisher, Salta, p. 135-154.
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