Portal to the Lesser White-fronted Goose

Literature type: Scientific

Journal: Munis Entomology & Zoology

Volume: 18 , Pages: 324-329

Language: English

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Full reference: Mustafayev, I. 2023. The new evidence of fossil lesser white-fronted goose in the late Pleistocene sediments of Binagada asphalt lake, Azerbaijan. Munis Entomology & Zoology 18: 324-329

Keywords: Azerbaijan, Binagada Asphalt Lake, Pleistocene, osteological, fossil, ulna

Abstract:

Binagada Asphalt Lake is unique and the largest faunal and floral asphalt assemblage. Since the discovery of the Binagada Asphalt Lake in 1938, members of staff of the Museum of Natural History together with Russian specialists did a lot of work in the way of systematic definition of species diversity fossil flora and fauna, the results of it were periodically published. A new species of Lesser White-fronted goose (Anser erythropus) for the Binagada fauna is described from the Binagada Asphalt Lake, which have yielded a common vertebrate fossil assemblages referred to the Late Pleistocene. The ulna of Lesser White-fronted goose is distinct from Anser anser and Anser albifrons, in that it lesser size and the morphological features of shape cotyla dorsale. At the moment, the paleornitofauna of Late Pleistocene asphalt deposits of Binagada numbered 116 species of birds, including 23 species of Anseriformes. The comparative osteological material stored in the Museum of Natural History of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences.

Literature type: Scientific

Journal: Syst. Biol.

Volume: 45 , Pages: 415-450.

DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/45.4.415

Language: English

Full reference: Livezey, B.C. 1996. A phylogenetic analysis of geese and swans (Anseriformes: Anserinae), including selected fossil species. Syst. Biol. 45: 415-450. https://www.dx.doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/45.4.415

Keywords: phyologeni, distribution, fossil, morphology, ecomorphology, comparative analysis, cladistic, geese

Abstract:

A phylogenetic analysis of modern and selected fossil geese and swans was performed using 165 characters of the skeleton, trachea, and natal and definitive integument. Five shortest trees were found (length = 318; consistency index for informative characters = 0.634), which differed only in details of relationships among three species of Branta. Thetrees supported (1) †Cnemiornis as sister group to other taxa analyzed; (2) a sister group relationship between the moa-nalos of Hawaii and other geese and swans; (3) Cereopsis as sister group of Anser, Branta, Coscoroba, and Cygnus (contra Livezey, 1986, Auk 103:737–754); (4) monophyly of Anser, Branta, and †Geochen and confirmation of generic monophyly of each; and (5) Coscoroba as sister group to Cygnus. Selectiveexclusion of fossil taxa from the analysis variably affected inferred relationships and had substantial impacts on computational efficiency. Some nodes were not robust to bootstrapping: (1) nodes relating species groups within Anser, Cygnus, and †Thambetochen and (2) the node uniting Anser, Branta, Coscoroba, and Cygnus relative to Cereopsis. Bremer (decay) indices indicated similar differences in relative support for nodes. Skeletal characters were comparatively important in establishing higher order relationships, whereas integumentary characters were critical for lower order inferences. Constrained analyses revealed that other proposed phylogenetic hypotheses entailed variable penalities in parsimony. The shortest tree(s) was considered with respect to selected ecomorphological attributes (e.g., body mass, sexual size dimorphism, clutch size) and biogeography, and a revised phylogenetic classification of the geese and swans is proposed.