Louchart Antoine, Haile-Selassie Y, Vignaud P, Likius A, Brunet M
UMR 5125, Paléoenvironnements et Paléobiosphère, Université Claude Bernard-Lyon 1, Bâtiment Géode, 27-43 bd du 11 novembre, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France.
J Hum Evol. 2008 Sep;55(3):513-20. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.06.002. Epub 2008 Jul 25.
The Kibish Formation has yielded a small collection of bird fossils, which are identified here as belonging to five species in four different families: Pelecanidae (pelicans), Anhingidae (darters), Ardeidae (herons) and Phasianidae (gamefowl). Two species of pelicans are identified: Pelecanus cf. P. onocrotalus, and P. aff. P. rufescens. The darter is referrable to Anhinga melanogaster. The heron is identifiable as Ardea sp., and the gamefowl as Numidinae indet. (guineafowl). Pelecanus cf. P. onocrotalus is represented by, among other remains, a well-preserved partial skull. Four of the birds are thus referrable to extant taxa that provide some paleoenvironmental clues for Member I of the Kibish Formation. The two species of pelican, the darter, and the heron indicate the presence of local freshwater bodies, a lake or a slow river, supporting resources of fish. The guineafowl is poorly informative ecologically, but probably excludes the notion that the local terrestrial landscape was treeless.
基比什组产出了一小批鸟类化石，在此被鉴定为分属于四个不同科的五个物种：鹈鹕科（鹈鹕）、蛇鹈科（蛇鹈）、鹭科（鹭）和雉科（猎禽）。已鉴定出两种鹈鹕：疑似欧氏鹈鹕的鹈鹕属鸟类，以及亲缘关系与棕鹈鹕相近的鹈鹕属鸟类。蛇鹈被认定为黑腹蛇鹈。鹭被鉴定为某种鹭属鸟类，猎禽被认定为未确定的珠鸡亚科（珠鸡）。疑似欧氏鹈鹕的鹈鹕属鸟类的代表化石，除了其他遗骸外，还有一个保存完好的部分头骨。因此，其中四种鸟类可归为现存类群，这为基比什组第一段地层提供了一些古环境线索。两种鹈鹕、蛇鹈和鹭表明当地存在淡水水体，如湖泊或流速缓慢的河流，有鱼类资源。珠鸡在生态方面提供的信息较少，但可能排除了当地陆地景观没有树木的观点。
