The cretaceous birds of New JerseyOlson, Storrs L.
Science
The cretaceous birds of New Jersey
Olson, Storrs L.
Birds, Fossil; Paleontology -- Cretaceous; Paleontology -- New Jersey
Among the newly collected material from the Inversand pit is a singular
avian humerus that cannot be assigned to the Graculavidae or to
any other known family, fossil or modern. Although it is generally
inadvisable to name even Paleogene birds on single elements, to say
nothing of Cretaceous ones, the specimen under consideration here is
superior to any of the other avian fossils yet collected from the
Cretaceous of New Jersey, both in preservation and in diagnostic
qualities, and it would seem incongruous to leave it innominate when
practically all the other fragments from the same deposits have
received names.
[Illustration: Figure 9.--Miscellaneous elements, _a_, _Palaeotringa
littoralis?_ (NJSM 11303), distal end of left humerus, palmar view;
_b_, Graculavidae, genus and species indeterminate (NJSM 11302),
distal end of left humerus, palmar view; _c_, proximal end of
radius associated with _b_; _d_, _Graculavus velox?_ (NJSM 11854),
right carpometacarpus; _e,f_, Procellariiformes?, genus and species
indeterminate (ANSP 15713), distal end of left ulna (_e_, external
view;/dorsal view); _g_, Aves, incertae sedis (NJSM 12119), distal end
of left femur, posterior view. (_a,b,c,d_, × 2; _e,f,g_, × 5; specimens
coated with ammonium chloride to enhance detail.)]
The most distinctive features of this specimen are the deep brachial
depression and the incipient ectepicondylar spur, thus calling to mind
both the Lari (Charadriiformes) and the Procellariiformes among modern
birds. Among the Pelecaniformes it also bears a resemblance to the
Phaethontidae and especially to the Eocene frigatebird _Limnofregata_
(Fregatidae) (Olson, 1977).
=Family Tytthostonychidae, new family=
Type Genus.--_Tytthostonyx_, new genus.
Included Genera.--Type genus only.
Diagnosis.--Differs from the Lari and other Charadriiformes in (1)
the low, narrow head; (2) the very large, long pectoral crest; (3)
the virtual absence of the incisura capitis or any excavation for M.
coracobrachialis cranialis; and (4) the shallow, indistinct tricipital
grooves. It agrees with the Procellariiformes and differs from
_Phaethon_ and _Limnofregata_ in characters 2 and 4, and in the large,
deeply excavated brachial depression. The ectepicondylar spur is better
developed than in any of the Pelecaniformes but not as well developed
as in the Procellariiformes. The apparently very broad pectoral crest
extends much farther distally than in any of the Procellariiformes or
even in _Limnofregata_, to which the fossil is somewhat more similar
in this respect. Tytthostonyx differs from any of the taxa compared in
having the ventral condyle very rounded, extending distally well past
the dorsal condyle.
=Genus _Tytthostonyx_, new genus=
Type-Species.--_Tytthostonyx glauconiticus_, new species.
Included Species.--Type species only.
Diagnosis.--As for the family.
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