The Miocene birds of Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) with a discussion of the age of modern species and genera

Abstract

A new fossil vertebrate site dating to the late Miocene yielding bird remains was recently discovered at Ruwais in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The fossils from the new locality come from the Baynunah Formation which is largely composed of fluvial deposits. The bird remains from Ruwais and other late Miocene localities with Baynunah Formation deposits are here described. The taxa and material represented are Struthioformidae eggshell, and Anhinga sp. and Ardeidae postcranial skeletal material. The presence of a modern genus in the Miocene has prompted a discussion here of the maximum age of modern genera in the fossil record, which in many cases appears to be Neogene. The latter can in turn lead to the identification of modern species because a past member of a modern genus falls within the size range of a modern species.

Keywords:

• Late Miocene
• Baynunah Formation
• Struthioformidae eggshell
• Anhinga
• Ardeidae

Acknowledgements

First of all we would like to thank Peter Hellyer (executive director of ADIAS) for facilitating our work on the Miocene bird fauna of Abu Dhabi. Various individuals are to be thanked for field assistance including Peter Hellyer and Simon Aspinall who helped with the collection of faunal remains from Ruwais. Simon Aspinall is also thanked for careful proof reading of the manuscript. We also thank Jo Cooper, Mark Adams and Robert Prýs-Jones for access to the Natural History Museum comparative collections at Tring, Hertfordshire. Franziska Grossmann is thanked for translating the relevant parts of the German monograph on Ardeidae. Phil Hurst of the Natural History Museum photographic unit and Stig Walsh are thanked for producing Figures 5, 6, 7 and 8. Cyril Walker and Gareth Dyke are thanked for giving us the opportunity to write this paper to commemorate Colin Harrison's work in Ornithology. Colin Harrison was very encouraging to JRS when he began working on bird remains and generously allowed him to collaborate on the description of the Pleistocene birds of the site of Boxgrove, Sussex (Harrison and Stewart 1999). Tabitha and Matilda are thanked for making us smile.