South American and Antarctic Continental Cenozoic Birds: Paleobiogeographic Affinities and Disparities

TAMBUSSI, C.P.; DEGRANGE, F.J.

Springer

Año: 2012 p. 113

978-94-007-5466-9

Several advances have been made on the understanding of the biotic andenvironmental history of South America and Antarctica including the discoveryof additional fossil sites coupled with progress from multidisciplinary analysesencompassing tectonic, isotopic, and radiochemical dating and molecular studies inmodern forms. This also changed the knowledge about birds. Characters of the SouthAmerican (SAn) avian fossil record are: (1) presence of taxa with uncertain affinitiesand absence of Passeriformes during the Paleogene; (2) progressive and acceleratedIncrease of species starting at the Neogene (Miocene); (3) dispersal of importantextinct lineages (e.g., Phorusrhacidae, Teratornithidae) to North America after theconnection between both Americas; (4) scarce endemic species that are members ofclades with major diversification during the Neogene (e.g., Cariamiformes) or thatinhabit mainly in the southern hemisphere (e.g., Anhingidae); (5) highly diverseliving groups with limited (e.g., Passeriformes) or no (e.g., Apodiformes) fossilrecord of which stem-groups are registered in Europe; (6) absence of the most extantSAn bird lineages; (7) predominance of the zoophagous birds ([60 %) in all theassociations (13) under scrutiny. Changes in diversity of the SAn birds during theCenozoic could have been the result of the action of different processes (dispersal,vicariance, extirpations, or extinctions) that affect groups in different ways.