Songzia heidangkouensis - An Eocene Bird
Songzia heidangkouensis was a bird that lived during the Eocene period (54-38 million years ago). Fossils of it have been found in China. A portion of the SAPE Newsletter of 1989 (No.3) tells about Songzia. This excerpt says:
2. An Eocene bird from Songzi County, Hubei Province: This is an inaccurate skeleton with the skull, identified as a new species and genus: Songzia heidangkouensis, which represents a new family Songziidae, and belongs to Gruiformes. The new family is one of the oldest in Gruiformes, it has comparatively close relationships with Rallidae, because they have some common characters, for example: flattened skull, straight bills, long tibiotarsus, anterior metatarsal grooves, and so on. However, the Songzidae differ from the Rallidae in several characters as following: in lateral view the frontal looks in the shape of an arch. Its external naris is longer. The internal condyle of the tibiotarsus is round and large, the inner trochlea of the tarsometatarsus is longer and does not turn posteriorly. When compared with Laornis edvardsianus represented only by a distal end of tibiotarsus, the Songziidae have the following similar characters: the posterior intercondylar sulcus of the tibiotarsus is broad and very shallow and the inner condyle is round. But they have many different structures: tubercle on supratendinal bridge of Songziidae is very developed, internal condyle is large and not projected, internal ligamental prominence is poorly developed, small size.
Neal Robbins
P.S. The Rallidae include rails, coots, crakes, and gallinules. Many of these birds live in marshes. However, there are exceptions. For example, the corn crake (Crex crex) has lived on farmlands. That species is native to Europe and the western part of Asia. It migrates to Europe in the winter. The corn crake has been decreasing in numbers in recent years.
P.P.S. There is a book which has information on Songzia and other fossil avian genera and species of China. It is titled Fossil Birds of China. This book was published in 2003. The author is Hou Lianhai.
|