Post by Melanie on Nov 14, 2014 13:16:33 GMT
Etymology. from the Dyuktai River, about
which aperture, at a confluence in the River Aldan, the
cave is located.
Holotype. PIN, no. 2859/703, complete right
coracoid; Yakutia, Dyuktai River, Dyuktai Cave local
ity, layer not known; Upper Pleistocene or probably
Holocene. Collected by Mochanov in 1969.
Two New Waterfowl Species (Aves: Anseriformes)
from the Upper Pleistocene of Yakutia:
The First Extinct Species of Quaternary Birds from Russia
N. V. Zelenkov and E. N. Kurochkinâ€
Abstract—Late Pleistocene Dyuktai Cave on the Aldan River, Yakutia, has yielded one of the richest Quater
nary avifaunas of Russia. Waterfowl remains from this locality include bones of a large goose and small smew.
The goose is close to the extant Graylag goose (Anser anser), but differs from it in the larger size and some
minor morphological features and is described here as a new species, Anser djuktaiensis sp. nov. The smew
from Dyuktai Cave is smaller than extant Mergellus albellus and described here as M. mochanovi sp. nov. The
new fossil smew is similar in some morphological features to extant Bucephala albeola. The two new taxa are
the first fossil species of Quaternary birds from Russia. It is proposed that a number of very large geese found
in the Pleistocene of Eurasia apparently belong to A. djuktaiensis. This goose or closely related forms could
have been a characteristic element of the Mammoth Fauna.
which aperture, at a confluence in the River Aldan, the
cave is located.
Holotype. PIN, no. 2859/703, complete right
coracoid; Yakutia, Dyuktai River, Dyuktai Cave local
ity, layer not known; Upper Pleistocene or probably
Holocene. Collected by Mochanov in 1969.
Two New Waterfowl Species (Aves: Anseriformes)
from the Upper Pleistocene of Yakutia:
The First Extinct Species of Quaternary Birds from Russia
N. V. Zelenkov and E. N. Kurochkinâ€
Abstract—Late Pleistocene Dyuktai Cave on the Aldan River, Yakutia, has yielded one of the richest Quater
nary avifaunas of Russia. Waterfowl remains from this locality include bones of a large goose and small smew.
The goose is close to the extant Graylag goose (Anser anser), but differs from it in the larger size and some
minor morphological features and is described here as a new species, Anser djuktaiensis sp. nov. The smew
from Dyuktai Cave is smaller than extant Mergellus albellus and described here as M. mochanovi sp. nov. The
new fossil smew is similar in some morphological features to extant Bucephala albeola. The two new taxa are
the first fossil species of Quaternary birds from Russia. It is proposed that a number of very large geese found
in the Pleistocene of Eurasia apparently belong to A. djuktaiensis. This goose or closely related forms could
have been a characteristic element of the Mammoth Fauna.
