The avian fossil record in Insular Southeast Asia and its implications for avian biogeography and palaeoecology
Meijer, Hanneke J. M. (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)

Date:	2014
Abstract:	Excavations and studies of existing collections during the last decades have significantly increased the abundance as well as the diversity of the avian fossil record for Insular Southeast Asia. The avian fossil record covers the Eocene through the Holocene, with the majority of bird fossils Pleistocene in age. Fossil bird skeletal remains represent at least 63 species in 54 genera and 27 families, and two ichnospecies are represented by fossil footprints. Birds of prey, owls and swiftlets are common elements. Extinctions seem to have been few, suggesting continuity of avian lineages since at least the Late Pleistocene, although some shifts in species ranges have occurred in response to climatic change. Similarities between the Late Pleistocene avifaunas of Flores and Java suggest a dispersal route across southern Sundaland. Late Pleistocene assemblages of Niah Cave (Borneo) and Liang Bua (Flores) support the rainforest refugium hypothesis in Southeast Asia as they indicate the persistence of forest cover, at least locally, throughout the Late Pleistocene and Holocene.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CGL-2011-28681 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca BP-B-00174
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Insular Southeast Asia ; Dispersal ; Wallacea ; Extinction ; Paleontology ; Fossil birds ; Avian biogeography
Published in:	PeerJ, Vol. 2, (March 2014) , art. e295, ISSN 2167-8359

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.295
PMID: 24688871

13 p, 864.5 KB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP)
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