Diagnoza

U-shaped furcula with stout scapi clavicularum and long and rod-like apophysis furculae; coracoid with long and broad processus procoracoideus; sternum with broadly rounded apex carinae and deep incisions on the caudal margin; ulna and humerus subequal in length.

Porównanie

Small bird, in size similar to the smallest extant Rallidae (e.g., Yellow-breasted crake Laterallus flaviventer) differs from all extant avian taxa in its skeletal morphology. An apophysis furculae of similar length occurs in only a few extant avian taxa: Galliformes, Cuculiformes, as well as in the otherwise very different Opisthocomiformes and Sagittariidae (Accipitriformes); in the gruiform Heliornithidae and in the Trogoniformes, the apophysis is also rod-shaped but shorter; with Eocuculus (from the late Eocene of North America and the early Oligocene of France) share furcula with a long apophysis and similar length proportions of the major wing bones; C. meniliticus differs from crown group Passeriformes in proportionally shorter ulna, smaller and much more robust furcula and in the absence of a processus intermetacarpalis (carpometacarpus); resembles some Cuculiformes in the morphology of the pectoral girdle, especially the long apophysis furculae, the slender coracoid, and the short sternum but are numerous differences between C. meniliticus and extant Cuculiformes, including a higher number of praesacral vertebrae (21 in C. meniliticus and only 18 in cockoos), a rounded apex carinae of the sternum (pointed in the Cuculiformes), the absence of marked papillae remigales (ulna), the proportionally longer and more elongate carpometacarpus, and the narrower pelvis; narrow pelvis and shape of the long and slender carpometacarpus is similar to the Ralloidea but have proportionally longer ulna; the proportions of the wing bones, Carpathiavis corresponds to the extinct Paleogene Songzia, which is the type genus of the putatively ralloidean taxon Songziidae but differs in the deeper incisions in the caudal margin of the sternum; rail-like morphology of the limb is also present in some Paleogene Galliformes (Gallinuloididae and Quercymegapodiidae).

Autekologia

Występowanie geograficzne

Jamna Dolna 2, woj. podkarpackie (southeast of Bircza), southeast Poland

Zasięg czasowy

Early Oligocene (Rupelian); local ichthyofaunal zone IPM 3 (30–31 Ma) (Bieńkowska-Wasiluk 2010).

Materiały muzealne

Only type specimen.

Literatura

Mayr, G. 2019. A skeleton of a small bird with a distinctive furcula morphology, from the Rupelian of Poland, adds a new taxon to early Oligocene avifaunas. Palaeodiversity 12 (1): 113–122.

Bieńkowska-Wasiluk, M. 2010. Taphonomy of Oligocene teleost fishes from the Outer Carpathians of Poland. Acta Geologica Polonica 60: 479–533.