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© the Geological Society of London 2013 Downloaded from http://jgs.lyellcollection.org/ at University of Wisconsin - Madison on May 8, 2013 Journal of the Geological Society A new giant ground bird from the Upper Cretaceous of southern France E. BUFFETAUT and J. LE LOEUFF Journal of the Geological Society 1998, v.155; p1-4. doi: 10.1 144/gsjgs.1 55.1 .0001 Email alerting click here to receive free e-mail alerts when new articles cite this article service Permission click here to seek permission to re-use all or part of this article request Subscribe click here to subscribe to Journal of the Geological Society or the Lyell Collection Notes © The Geological Society of London 2013 Downloaded from http://jgs.lyellcollection.org/ at University of Wisconsin - Madison on May 8, 2013 Jo urnal of the Geological Society, London, Vol. 155, 1998, pp. 1#4. Printed in Great Britain NsCtehiwnreeg t dllaeaicrsgces ooeyvnubes sriairo dcesrfsus m ap ofrufeotfv rhrideaorguna smlym eF nurr taec.nphcAo reb nteeto di tnnecf rrot ohmk menpolb t ewhateleseids Up gpeeo plfveo ia rfs cNonsisting of the synsacrum with part of the ilia is used to define a new t axon of bird, Gargantuavisp hiloinos, t o w hich a f emur is also referred. This bird is characterized by its v ery large size (comparable t o that of an ostrich), a broad pelvis w ith an anteriorly placed acetabulum, and a short robust f emur. The occurrence of this v ery large, flightless, bird in the Late Creta- ceous shows that, contrary t o w idespread opinion, the evolution of large terrestrial birds was not simply the result of adaptation during the Cenozoic t o ecological niches left empty by the extinction of the dinosaurs. It also strongly suggests that some of the large f ossil eggs from the Upper Cretaceous of southern France w ere laid by large ground birds rather t han dinosaurs. Keywords: France, Upper Cretaceous, birds, eggs, dinosaurs. The only bird specimen so far reported from the Upper Cretaceous of southern France was a synsacrum fragment from Provence (Buffetaut et al. 1995), w hich indicated a large form, but gave little more information about it. This paper describes new specimens found at two Late Cretaceous vertebrate sites in the Languedoc region of France, which provide additional information about the anatomy, size, and significance of these giant birds. Systematic description Aves Ornithothoraces Gargantuavis p hiloinos gen. et sp. nov. Diagnosis: a v ery large bird with a broad pelvis, on which the acetabulum is placed in a v ery anterior position, at the level of the third and fourth synsacral transverse processes. The robust and relatively short synsacrum consists of ten completely fused vertebrae. The ilia do not meet each other dorsally. A well- developed antitrochanter is present posterodorsally to the relatively large acetabulum. Etymology: generic name from Gargantua, the giant of French folklore made famous by François Rabelais, and avis, 1 Latin for bird. Specific name from the Greek p hiloinos, #one who likes wine$, because the sites which have yielded remains of this bird are in the midst of v ineyards. Holotype: synsacrum with parts of the pelvis. Musée des Dinosaures, Espéraza, M D E-C3-525. Referreds pecimen: femur, Musée des Dinosaures, Espéraza, M DE-A08. This bone is referred to the same taxon as the pelvis because of agreement in size and compatible morphology (with, notably, a large trochanteric crest which probably matched a well developed antitrochanter on the ilium). Type locality: the holotype synsacrum was found at the Bellevue site at Campagne-sur-Aude (de´ partement A ude). The femur is from the Combebelle site (département Hérault). Both localities are in the Languedoc region of southern France. Type stratum: the Bellevue site is at the base of the continental Marnes de la Maurine Formation; it has yielded a rich v ertebrate fauna (Buffetaut et al. 1989; Le Loeuff 1995) dominated by titanosaurid sauropods and the ornithopod Rhabdodon. In southern France, this type of assemblage is characteristic of the late Campanian and early Maastrichtian, as opposed to late Maastrichtian assemblages in which hadrosaurs are dominant (Le Loeuff et al. 1994; Buffetaut et al. 1997). The Combebelle site has yielded a dinosaur assemblage, with Rhabdodon and a titanosaurid, indicating a similar age. Description. The partial pelvis from Bellevue consists of the synsacrum and the attached ilia, which are somewhat distorted and incomplete. All the constituent v ertebrae of the synsacrum are completely fused, as in other birds and much more so than in any described dinosaur. Because of t his fusion, the exact number of vertebrae in the synsacrum is not easy to determine. On the basis of the transverse processes which meet the ilia, it appears that ten vertebrae are present, a number similar to that observed in some Cretaceous birds such as Baptornis and Ichthyornis, and higher than that of any known theropod dinosaur (Chiappe 1996). The centra are 30 mm wide at the broadest (anterior) part of the synsacrum, which makes it as broad as that of an adult ostrich, but its preserved length (probably close to the original length) is only 180 mm. The ventral surface of the synsacrum is markedly arched longi- tudinally. A nteriorly, it bears a median ridge, w hich is replaced by a median groove at the level of the acetabulum. The concave anterior articular f ace of the first synsacral vertebra is subcircular, rather than saddle-shaped as in most birds. The opening of the neural canal is relatively small and circular in outline. Dorsally, the fused neurapophyses of the synsacral vertebrae form a continuous low ridge. The transverse pro- cesses connecting the synsacrum with the ilia are robust. In the anterior part, they are deep, perpendicular to the axis of the synsacrum and consist of a dorsal and a ventral bar, whereas the more posterior ones are simple, thinner and oblique. The incomplete and crushed ilia show few details. The most striking feature is the very anterior position of the acetabulum, which is at the level of the third and fourth transverse processes. The acetabulum is about 4 0 mm in diameter and ventrolaterally oriented. On the left side, a large antitrochanter is preserved, again an avian feature (Chiappe 1996). The dorsal iliac crest is preserved on the right side and it is clear that the ilia did not meet medially above the synsacrum. A small part of the anterior end of the ilio-ischiatic fenestra is visible on the left side. This pelvis is characterized mainly by its great relative Downloaded from http://jgs.lyellcollection.org/ at University of Wisconsin - Madison on May 8, 2013 2 E. B U F F ETA U T & J . L E LO E U F F Fig. 1. Synsacrum and partial ilia (holotype) of Gargantuavis p hiloinos, n.g., n.sp. (Musée des Dinosaures, Espéraza, M DE-C3-525), from the Upper Cretaceous of Bellevue (Campagne-sur A ude, France) in ventral (a), dorsal (b), anterior (c) and right lateral (d) views. Remaining matrix is shown by cross-hatching. a, acetabulum; at, antitrochanter; fn, fused neural spines of synsacral v ertebrae; ic, iliac crest. Scale bar is 50 mm. Drawings by Guy Le Roux. breadth (150 mm at the level of the acetabulum), by the anterior position of the acetabulum, and by the failure of the ilia to meet dorsally. It is different in its robustness from that of flying birds and is also v ery much unlike the relatively narrow pelves of modern ratites, and the very narrow ones of phorusrhacids. In this respect, as in the anterior position of the acetabulum, it is somewhat reminiscent of the Early Tertiary Diatryma (Matthew & Granger 1917; A ndors 1992), but there are differences in the dorsal extent of the ilia and in the shape of the anterior articular surface of the synsacrum. This broad and heavily built pelvis is interpreted as that of a large, probably not fast-running, flightless bird. The previously reported synsacrum fragment from Provence (Buffetaut et al. 1995) is similar to the middle part of the Bellevue specimen. The femur from Combebelle referred to Gargantuavis philoinos is not very well preserved, being crushed and damaged by modern bush roots. The distal end is missing, although the distal widening of the shaft suggests that not much is lacking, but the proximal end is tolerably well preserved. It is a short stout bone, with a hollow but thick- walled shaft (thickness of the bony walls up to 8 mm). The articular head is well defined, rounded, with a diameter of 40 mm (which fits that of the acetabulum of the pelvis from Bellevue). A well marked #neck$ separates the articular head from the more lateral region, in which there is a trochanteric crest similar to that of most birds, with no indication of the posterior trochanter present in dromaeosaurids, Archaeop- teryx and enantiornithines (Chiappe 1996). This crest is rounded in outline, instead of proximally pointed as in most large flightless birds. The great development of the crest matches that of the antitrochanter on the pelvis from Bellevue, thus supporting an attribution to the same taxon. In proximal view, the proximal articular surface is similar in outline to that of ratites and Diatryma. The minimum circumference of the shaft is 148 mm, in the size range of the living ostrich. Equations devised to estimate the weight of vertebrates on the basis of the circumference of the femoral shaft (Anderson et al. 1985) can be applied to the Combebelle specimen. The resulting estimated weight is 141 kg, which places it within the weight range of ostriches. This is further evidence of the flightless nature of this bird, the estimated weight for the largest known flying bird, Argentavis magnificens, being only 71.9 kg (Campbell & Marcus 1992).
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