''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.
Taxonomy
This species was originally described in 2012 by paleontologists Federico L. Agnolín and Jorge I. Noriega, under the scientific name of ''Pterocnemia mesopotamica''.
[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.] This generic taxon is mostly considered to be included in ''
Rhea''.
; Holotype
The designated holotype is cataloged as: MACN-Pv 12743, and consists of the distal end of the 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 meta ...
. It is deposited in the paleontological collections of the
Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences
The Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Argentine Museum ( es, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia) is a public museum located in the Caballito section of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
History and overview
The museum owes it ...
"Bernardino Rivadavia" (MACN), located in the city of
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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
Type locality may refer to:
* Type locality (biology)
* Type locality (geology)
See also
* Local (disambiguation)
* Locality (disambiguation)
{{disambiguation ...
is ravines of the
Paraná Toma Vieja river, north of the city of Paraná,
province of Entre Ríos
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
, in the Mesopotamian region of northeast
Argentina.
; Estimated Characteristics
It was postulated that the remains found belonged to a bird with a thin and small body, with 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.
[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.]
; Etymology
Etymologically, the specific term is a
toponym that refers to the region from which the type specimen comes: Argentine Mesopotamia.
[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.]
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", 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).
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 kilometers 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-late Miocene.
[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.] Due to its characteristics 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
{{Taxonbar, from=Q20898323
Rheidae
Species described in 2012
Birds of Argentina
Prehistoric birds of South America