Catálogo de tipos de Aves fósiles del Museo de La Plata

3. TAMBUSSI, C. & C. ACOSTA HOSPITALECHE

Revista del Museo, Serie Técnica y Didáctica

Museo de La Plata

Lugar: La Plata; Año: 2001 vol. 41 p. 1 - 28

1667-3204

Abstract             The vertebrate paleontology collection of the Museo de La Plata (MLP) constitutes a major Argentine holding and is one of the most complete existing records of vertebrate history in South America.             This catalogue records the systematic position and geographic and stratigraphic occurrences of the fossil bird types housed at the Departamento Científico de Paleontología de Vertebrados of the MLP. It is intended as a research tool of the current status of taxonomy and nomenclature. Published reports of fossil bird research have been limited to descriptions of new species or new occurrences. We intend that this annotated catalogue be synthetic in its treatment and partly complement the Moreno and Mercerat?s ?Catálogo de los pájaros fósiles de la República Argentina conservados en el Museo de La Plata? (Moreno y Mercerat, 1891).  The main part of the fossil bird collection was amassed during a short interval  earlier in the XIX century (1886-1898), under the direction of Francisco P. Moreno. During that period, several independent catalogues were published (Moreno and Mercerat, 1891; Mercerat, 1891a, b y c; Roth, 1898) but unfortunately they include several duplications of numbers and other errors. The majority of the fossil bird collection was never curated. After more than one hundred years from the publication of the Moreno and Mercerat?s contribution and some posterior movements (with attendant specimen disassociation, breakage, and loss), the fossil bird type collection is updated. We initiated a recovery program to restore the utility of the fossil vertebrate Museo de La Plata collection as a research tool in the earth and life science. The primary purpose in publishing this catalogue (in compliance with recommendation 72G of the ICZN) is to present, in organized fashion, critical data on important specimens in the collection, in order to foster and facilitate future research on phylogeny, evolution and historical biogeography of the South American fossil birds.