“El Estado Actual Del Conocimiento De Las Aves Cenozoicas De Argentina” De Tonni 1980: Cuatro Décadas Después

Abstract

The present state of knowledge of the Cenozoic birds of Argentina" published in Contribution in Sciences in the year 1980, written by the argentine paleontologist Eduardo Pedro Tonni, became a must-read for those interested in the record of fossil birds. In that work, all the records known up to that time are compiled and some comments are made. Since then, there have been crucial advances in unraveling the diversity of Cenozoic birds in Argentina. Based on that work, here is a detailed updated, and annotated list of all known avian records in Argentina that includes representatives of Palaeognathae (Tinamiformes and Rheiformes), Galloanseres (Anseriformes), and Neoaves (Sphenisciformes, Procellarifomes, Suliformes, Charadriiformes, Phoenicopteriformes, Ciconiiformes, Pelecaniformes, Coraciimorphae, Cathartiformes, Accipitriformes, Falconiformes, Cariamiformes, Psittaciformes and Passeriformes). Besides, a substantial contribution is that here are photographs of the holotypes of all the new species that were nominated after Tonni's paper.

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“…Notably, there is some controversy in the identification of these early records. For instance, the early Eocene Paleopsilopterus itaboraiensis from Brazil has been interpreted as a member of Psilopterinae (Alvarenga, 1985;Alvarenga and Höfling, 2003;Tambussi, 2011), Idiornithidae (Agnolín, 2009;Tambussi et al, 2023), or an indeterminate family within Cariamiformes (Degrange, 2010). Similarly, remains from the late Eocene of Gran Hondonada in Argentina have been assigned to Psilopterinae (Acosta Hospitaleche and Tambussi, 2005;Tambussi et al, 2023), Idiornithidae (Agnolín, 2009), or an uncertain Cariamiformes (Degrange, 2012).…”

“…For instance, the early Eocene Paleopsilopterus itaboraiensis from Brazil has been interpreted as a member of Psilopterinae (Alvarenga, 1985;Alvarenga and Höfling, 2003;Tambussi, 2011), Idiornithidae (Agnolín, 2009;Tambussi et al, 2023), or an indeterminate family within Cariamiformes (Degrange, 2010). Similarly, remains from the late Eocene of Gran Hondonada in Argentina have been assigned to Psilopterinae (Acosta Hospitaleche and Tambussi, 2005;Tambussi et al, 2023), Idiornithidae (Agnolín, 2009), or an uncertain Cariamiformes (Degrange, 2012). In addition, a widely accepted Phorusrhacidae from the middle Eocene of Cañadón Vaca, Argentina, was originally classified as a member of Psilopterinae (Tonni andTambussi, 1986, 1988) but later simply mentioned as a phorusrhacid (Tambussi et al, 2023).…”

“…Initially, it was classified in Psilopterinae, but later reevaluated and placed in Idiornithidae (Agnolín, 2009), and alternatively as iIndeterminant family within Cariamiformes (Degrange, 2012). Subsequently, it was placed into Phorusrhacidae Psilopterinae (Tambussi and Degrange, 2013) and then into Idiornithidae (Tambussi et al, 2023). In addition, a fragmentary tarsometatarsus and an ungual phalanx from the late Eocene of Gran Hondonada (Acosta Hospitaleche and Tambussi, 2005; age updated according to Kramarz et al, 2019) were assigned to a Psilopterinae.…”

“…Alternatively, these remains were considered as Cariamiformes indet. (Degrange, 2012), but then treated as Idiornithidae (Tambussi et al, 2023). Therefore, the oldest and non-controversial record would correspond to a single distal end of tibiotarsus from the middle Eocene of Cañadón Vaca (Tonni and Tambussi, 1986; age updated according to Dunn et al, 2015).…”

“…African and European records (Mourer-Chauviré et al, 2011;Angst et al, 2013;Angst and Buffettaut, 2017;Buffetaut and Angst, 2021) have been the subject of controversy. They may be related cariamiforms (Mayr, 2016a), although some authors considered them members of Phorusrhacidae (Tambussi et al, 2023). This ongoing debate underscores the need for further research and analysis to clarify the taxonomic affiliations of these specimens.…”