Taxonomic review of the late Cenozoic megapodes (Galliformes: Megapodiidae) of Australia.

ABSTRACT: Megapodes are unusual galliform birds that use passive heat sources to incubate their eggs. Evolutionary relationships of extant megapode taxa have become clearer with the advent of molecular analyses, but the systematics of large, extinct forms (Progura gallinacea, Progura naracoortensis) from the late Cenozoic of Australia has been a source of confusion. It was recently suggested that the two species of Progura were synonymous, and that this taxon dwarfed into the extant malleefowl Leipoa ocellata in the Late Pleistocene. Here, we review previously described fossils along with newly discovered material from several localities, and present a substantial taxonomic revision. We show that P. gallinacea and P. naracoortensis are generically distinct,

SUBMITTER: Shute E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5493918 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature