1993/01/01 by Walter Boles · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Avian ecology and behavior #Plant and Fungal Species Descriptions #Systematics #Plumage #Psittaciformes #Rostrum #Extant taxon #Zoology #Biology #Geography #Genus #Taxonomy (biology) #Evolutionary biology
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1993.tb02804.x
openalex publication_date 1993/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
The first Tertiary cockatoo or any psittaciform from Australia is recorded from an incomplete rostrum from the Riversleigh deposits of northwestern Queensland, Australia. It is placed in the extant genus Cacatua but cannot be diagnosed at the specific level. This cockatoo was probably similar in size to the modern C. roseicapilla , with a short, unspecialized crest and probably white plumage. The rostrum is useful in studies of the systematics of parrots. Rostral characters support some traditional subdivisions of the order, while suggesting that others warrant re‐examination.