Early Eocene shorebirds (Aves: Charadriiformes) from the Tingamarra Local Fauna, Murgon, Queensland, Australia

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 9 years ago

Abstract - The Early Eocene Tingamarra Local Fauna, from near Murgon, Boat Mountain, southeastern Queensland, has produced an array of important vertebrate fossils, including two, possibly three, taxa of nonpasserine birds. The fossils described here are comparable with what have been termed the 'transitional' Charadriiformes, for which the 'form family' Graculavidae has been recognized. The post-cranial skeletal morphology of these birds is shared by early members of the Anseriformes, causing uncertainty over the correct ordinal allocation of taxa in the absence of the distinctive anseriform skull. As a conservative approach, the Murgon specimens are allocated to the Graculavidae in the Charadriiformes, pending the discovery of informative cranial elements. Because both the Graculavidae and early anseriforms are largely restricted to the period of the Late Cretaceous through Early Eocene, the occurrence of these fossils at Murgon is consistent with the date obtained from radiometric and other faunistic sources.