A new raptorial bird from the Middle Eocene of Messel, Germany

Abstract

Raptorial birds (“Falconiformes”) are very rare in the Middle Eocene fossil site Messel in Germany. In this study, a new taxon, Masillaraptor parvunguis gen. et sp. nov., is described that, as indicated by its long legs, appears to have been a fairly terrestrial bird, with rather weak claws and a beak without a strongly hooked tip. Phylogenetic assignment of M. parvunguis is, however, aggravated by the uncertainty concerning monophyly of, and relationships within, extant “Falconiformes”. Therefore, three different published phylogenies of the extant taxa are used as “backbone” phylogenies to determine the relationships of the new taxon by minimising the amount of homoplasy in the phylogenetically informative characters visible in the two known specimens. Abbreviation of the middle phalanges of the fourth toe suggests that M. parvunguis is more closely related to a clade including Sagittariidae (secretary bird) and Accipitridae (hawks) than to the Cathartidae (New World vultures). As in Accipitridae and Falconidae, the first phalanx of the second toe is further shortened, but the exact position of M. parvunguis is dependent on the still controversial relationships between the extant taxa.

Keywords:

• Fossil birds
• Eocene
• Messel
• phylogeny
• Masillaraptor parvunguis n. gen. n. sp

Acknowledgements

I thank S. Tränkner (SMF) for taking the photographs.