A SMALL SUBOSCINE-LIKE PASSERIFORM BIRD FROM THE EARLY OLIGOCENE OF FRANCE

2006/01/01 by Gérald Mayr, Albrecht Manegold · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Ichthyology and Marine Biology #Avian ecology and behavior

paper · pdf · doi:10.1650/0010-5422(2006)108[717:asspbf]2.0.co;2

openalex publication_date 2006/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We report the wing bones of a small passeriform bird from the early Oligocene of France, which are among the earliest fossil remains of Passeriformes in Europe. The specimen is clearly distinguished from oscines, to which all extant European passeriforms belong, and closely resembles suboscine passerines in presumably derived features. If future, more complete specimens support its assignment to the suboscines, it would be the earliest fossil record of this passeriform taxon. Together with other fossils from the early Oligocene of Germany, it indicates that nonoscine passerines colonized Europe before the arrival of oscines.

Citations

• A Gondwanan origin of passerine birds supported by DNA sequences of the endemic New Zealand wrens
• Fossil Songbirds (Passeriformes) from the Early Eocene of Australia
• Mating systems, philopatry and dispersal in birds and mammals
• Acta Palaeontologica Polonica
• A phylogenetic hypothesis for passerine birds: taxonomic and biogeographic implications of an analysis of nuclear DNA sequence data
• Evolution, biogeography, and patterns of diversification in passerine birds

Cited by

• The age of the crown group of passerine birds and its evolutionary significance – molecular calibrations versus the fossil record
• Passerine [wikipedia]