Pumiliornis tessellatus MAYR, 1999 revisited - new data on the osteology and possible phylogenetic affinities of an enigmatic Middle Eocene bird

摘要

Although the avian species Pumiliornis tessellatus MAYR, 1999 is known front two skeletons from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany, its phylogenetic affinities remained enigmatic. The new osteological data presented in this study document that P. tessellatus had an at least semizygodactyl foot, with a very wide basal phalanx of the fourth toe, and lacked an ossified pons supratendineus on the distal tibiotarsus. Compared to the known zygodactyl and semizygodactyl birds, this tiny Middle Eocene species resembles the late Eocene/early Oligocene taxon Eocuculus CHANDLER, 1999. A new, tentatively referred wing of Eocuculus from the early Oligocene of France is described and compared with Pumiliornis.