Piscator tenuirostris is an extinct species of cormorant-like bird, the only known species in the genus Piscator.
| Piscator tenuirostris Temporal range:
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Suliformes |
| Family: | Phalacrocoracidae |
| Genus: | †Piscator Harrison and Walker, 1976 |
| Species: | †P. tenuirostris
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| Binomial name | |
| †Piscator tenuirostris Harrison & Walker, 1976
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Discovery
editPiscator tenuirostris is known from an incomplete rostrum, the anterior end of a premaxilla, found in Hordle, England, in formations dating to the Priabonian, the final age of the Eocene Epoch.[1][2] This holotype is now at the British Museum.[3]
It was initially described by Colin Harrison and Cyril A. Walker in 1976, and placed in the family phalacrocoracidae.[4] It was placed in class Aves incertae sedis by Jiří Mlíkovský in 2002.[2]
A similar sample was found in the Late Eocene-early Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation in Faiyum, Egypt, but whether this sample represents P. tenuirostris, another Piscator species, or a different phalacrocoracid is unknown.[1]
Description
editPiscator was similar to the extant phalacrocoracidae, a piscivorous family of aquatic birds.[4] Remains were found in the Bracklesham Group in Hordle, England, which dates to the Priabonian, the last age of the Eocene epoch.[4][2]
Taxonomy
editThe genus was introduced by Cyril A. Walker and Colin Harrison in 1976.[4] It was placed in class Aves incertae sedis by Jiří Mlíkovský in 2002.[2] The word piscator is Latin for "fisherman." Other fossils may also represent species in this genus, but they have not been described as such, with some residing in private collections.[4]
P. tenuirostris is the oldest discovered cormorant-like bird in the fossil record.[1] It is the type specimen of its genus, and the only species of Piscator currently described.[1][2]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d Mayr, Gerald (April 21, 2009). Paleogene Fossil Birds. Berlin: Springer. pp. 65–67. ISBN 978-3-540-89627-2. OCLC 302080522.
- ^ a b c d e Mlíkovsky, Jirí (2002). Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe (PDF). Prague: Ninox Press. p. 268. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-20.
- ^ Brodkorb, Pierce (1978). "CATALOGUE OF FOSSIL BIRDS" (PDF). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum Biological Sciences. 23 (3): 216 – via Florida State Museum of the University of Florida.
- ^ a b c d e Harrison, C. J. O.; Walker, C. A. (1876). "Birds of the British Upper Eocene". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 59 (4): 323–351. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1976.tb01017.x.