''Proardea'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial no ...

heron The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychu ...

, containing two

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

, ''Proardea amissa'' ("lost proto-heron") and ''Proardea? deschutteri'' from the Borgloon Formation of

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the ...

. It stood about 70 cm (2 ft 4 in) tall and was very similar to a modern

in shape. The species is known from rather fragmentary

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s in the area of

Quercy Quercy (; oc, Carcin , locally ) is a former province of France located in the country's southwest, bounded on the north by Limousin, on the west by Périgord and Agenais, on the south by Gascony and Languedoc, and on the east by Rouergue and ...

, France; dated remains are from Pech Desse, a Late

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but t ...

locality, but the original fossil, a single right

tarsometatarsus The tarsometatarsus is a bone that is only found in the lower leg of birds and some non-avian dinosaurs. It is formed from the fusion of several bones found in other types of animals, and homologous to the mammalian tarsus (ankle bones) and met ...

( MNHN QU-15720), isn't precisely dated and may have come from deposits as early as Late

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', "da ...

in age.

''Proardea'' was apparently closely related to the true herons and egrets (Ardeinae). As these genera are only known from the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent ...

onwards, ''Proardea'' possibly was a direct ancestor of today's herons and/or egrets. However, the Miocene genus '' Proardeola'' is closely related, or perhaps even synonymous, with ''Proardea''; the former's single species ''Proardeola walkeri'' may thus be ''Proardea walkeri'' or even identical with ''P. amissa''. The bird described as '' Ardea aurelianensis'' may also be identical with ''P. amissa'', which would in that case become known as ''Proardea aurelianensis''. Supposed other species of ''Proardea'', ''P. perplexa'' and ''P. similis'', are synonyms of the

ibis The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

'' Geronticus perplexus'' and the phasianid '' Miogallus altus'', respectively.

References

Further reading