galliform – A Dinosaur A Day

Australia & Oceania, Galloanseran, Omnivore, Quaternary, Terrestrial Tuesday

Macrocephalon maleo

Posted on November 12, 2019 by Meig

By Ariefrahman, CC BY-SA 4.0

Etymology: Great Head

First Described By: Müller, 1846

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Galloanserae, Pangalliformes, Galliformes, Megapodiidae

Status: Extant, Endangered

Time and Place: Within the last 10,000 years, in the Holocene of the Quaternary

Maleos are known entirely from the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia

Physical Description: Maleos are large landfowl, reaching 55 centimeters in length. These are large, round birds with skinny necks and odd looking heads – they have black crests on the tops of their heads that flop over the back, and little red bands at the top of their beaks. The beaks of Maleos are thick and grey, and they have primarily brown heads. Their backs are black, as are their wings and tails, but their bellies are white; and they have long, grey legs. In addition to all of this, Maleos have orange rings around their eyes that are extremely noticeable. The young tend to have black heads in addition to these features.

Diet: Maleos feed on a variety of fruits, seeds, insects, and other invertebrates.

By Stavenn, CC BY-SA 3.0

Behavior: Maleos are Megapodes, which means they are one of the only groups of dinosaurs that don’t take care of their young! Instead, Megapodes make giant mound-nests which use geothermal energy and solar-heat in order to incubate the eggs. Maleos are monogamous, mating with only one individual per season (and potentially per life, but they aren’t very well studied), and the pair builds the nest mound together, lays the eggs, and leaves. Around ten eggs are laid per year, though some may lay as many as thirty. The eggs incubate for nearly three months; when the young hatch, they rapidly lose a lot of weight, before beginning to chow down on as much food as possible and growing rapidly for the next two months. They reach sexual maturity themselves at around two years of age. They can live for up to 23 years.

By BronxZooFan, CC BY-SA 4.0

These are noisy birds, making a wide variety of calls including brays, rolls, and quacking – to the point of sounding rather surreal in some situations. They tend to spend most of their time foraging with their mate, walking around and gathering the food off of the ground. They do not migrate, but they also do move around the island each year, not sticking in one place or placing their nests in the same sites from year to year.

Ecosystem: These megapodes live primarily in lowland and hill jungle, going to the beaches for their breeding or in forest clearings with extensive amounts of sand. They usually roost in trees high off of the ground. Maleos are preyed upon by humans, pigs, monitor lizards, and crocodilians.

By Ariefrahman, CC BY-SA 4.0

Other: Maleos are endangered, with only potentially 14,000 individuals left with a rapidly declining population. The reasons for this seem to be due to human exploitation, egg hunting by humans and introduced mammalian predators, and extensive habitat loss. This is also illegal, as much of that lost habitat is protected – as are the eggs of this species, which are being collected in the thousands. Since they are a delicacy, and not a food source staple, this practice must be condemned and hopefully further regulation can help to increase Maleo populations.

~ By Meig Dickson

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Australia & Oceania, Galloanseran, Herbivore, Quaternary, Terrestrial Tuesday

Anurophasis monorthonyx

Posted on November 5, 2019 by Meig

By Carlos N. G. Bocos

Etymology: Tail-Lacking Pheasant

First Described By: van Oort, 1910

Status: Extant, Near Threatened

TIme and Place: Since 10,000 years ago, in the Holocene of the Quaternary

Snow Mountain Quail live entirely in the Snow Mountains of Irian Jaya in New Guinea

Physical Description: Snow Mountain Quail are adorable little round birds, ranging in size from 25 to 28 centimeters in length. They have small heads and tiny, pointed beaks, with large round bodies. They do not have large tails – as you would assume from their names – but instead have a small tuft of feathers in the shape of a triangle on the ends of their bodies. They also have short, stubby feet. The males are reddish, with brown backs and brown striping on their bodies. The females are more pale, but also with brown backs and brown striping.

Diet: These quail feed mainly on flowers, leaves, seeds, foliage, and sometimes caterpillars.

By Charles Davies, in the Public Domain

Behavior: Snow Mountain Quail aren’t the most social pheasant species, usually only foraging in small groups of 2 to 3 individuals. They make small, noisy squeals when flustered, and repeated squee-ing calls when alarmed. They do not migrate, though they do move back and forth along the elevation due to predator activity. They make nests on the edge of grass tussocks, usually in September; where they lay three pale brown eggs with dark brown spots.

Ecosystem: Snow Mountain Quail are known from grassland and scrubland in the mountains, between 3100 and 3800 meter elevations. This is an extremely remote – and chilly – environment.

By Romain Risso, CC BY-SA 3.0

Other: Snow Mountain Quail are mainly near threatened due to the extremely limited and unique nature of its habitat. It is also not helped by the fact that the Indonesian Government has not granted protected status to these birds. More work is needed to protect these adorable little birds.

~ By Meig Dickson

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Galloanseran, Neogene, North America, Omnivore, Terrestrial Tuesday

Miortyx

Posted on July 2, 2019 by Meig

By Ripley Cook

Etymology: Miocene Quail

First Described By: Miller, 1944

Referred Species: M. teres, M. aldeni

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: Between 23 and 16 million years ago, from the Aquitanian to the Burdigalian ages of the Miocene of the Neogene

Miortyx is known from the Batesland Formation and middle member of the Sharp’s Formation of South Dakota

Physical Description: Miortyx is the oldest known member of the American Quail, a group of small birds with similar habits (but far distance in relation) to Old World Quail. These are shy, diurnal, terrestrial birds, with generalist diets. As such, Miortyx probably resembled its modern relatives in most ways, with round bodies and tiny heads. They probably also had tiny beaks and only somewhat decent flight ability. They probably also had short, boxy wings, like other American Quail. These birds were larger than their modern relatives, making them an interesting transitional form between larger fowl (such as pheasants) that these quail evolved from, and the smaller quail we have today. Both species are known from ends of humeri, making it difficult to say more about them.

Diet: A mixture of grains, seeds, and invertebrates that it could pluck from the ground.

Behavior: Miortyx would probably have behaved similar, if not identical, to living quail, spending most of its time walking around and bobbing its head as it tried to peck up food from the ground. They probably lived in large flocks, which would rarely rely on flight to get away, instead running away in a silly and bobbing fashion. When flying, it would have been an awkward, sporadic sort of flight. They would have taken care of their young for at least some time, and the young were probably precocial.

By Scott Reid

Ecosystem: Miortyx lived across the transition of environments in South Dakota during the Early through the Middle Miocene. During this time, grasslands were starting to grow, creating the famed American plains. Still, forests were a major feature of the ecosystem. Miortyx aldeni lived in the middle ecosystem of the Sharp’s Formation, a braided river channel in an extensive forest. This forest was in the middle of a valley, with a lot of different types of trees like sycamore, poplar, alder, and ash. Here, it lived alongside other dinosaurs such as Arikarornis, an Old World Vulture (in the New World!), and the large flightless bird of prey Bathornis (a kind that convergently evolved a very similar lifestyle to the Terror Birds of the South). There were also a variety of mammals such as proto-horses, primates, marsupials, rabbits, deer, rodents, and predatory mammals.

The later Batesland formation featured the growth of grasslands into the area, though where Miortyx teres was found was still forested. This was a stream system flowing out of nearby rivers and lakes, with well-developed surrounding woodland featuring many of the same plants as the earlier area. Nearby grasslands were bleeding in, though it was still more forested than what one would see today. Here there were many other dinosaurs such as the Chachalaca Boreortalis, crakes like Ortalis, grouse Typmanuchus, ducks like Dendrochen and Querquedula, a swan Paranyroca, an Old World Vulture Palaeoborus, an owl Strix dakota, and even the swimming-flamingo Megapaleolodus. There were also countless mammals like a startling number of rodents, many kinds of hoofed mammals including horses, predatory mammals, rabbits, and hedgehogs and shrews.

Other: Miortyx is the oldest record of American Quail, making it an important find for that group’s biogeographical history.

Species Differences: M. aldeni is slightly larger than its cousin M. teres, and also older, coming from the Middle Sharp’s Formation rather than the later Batesland Formation.

~ By Meig Dickson

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Eurasia, Galloanseran, India & Madagascar, Omnivore, Quaternary, Terrestrial Tuesday

Pucrasia macrolopha

Posted on May 14, 2019 by Meig

By Prateik Kulkarni, CC BY-SA 4.0

Etymology: Pheasant

First Described By: G. R. Gray, 1841

Status: Extant, Least Concern

Time and Place: Within the last 10,000 years, in the Holocene of the Quaternary

The Koklass Pheasant is known from India and Southeast Asia

Physical Description: The Koklass Pheasant is a large bird, ranging between 52.5 to 64 centimeters in length, with the males on average larger than the females. The birds are also sexually dimorphic in terms of body color, with the males supporting large, spikey crests and distinctive striping along their sides – while the females are more mottled and brown. The males come in a variety of plumage colors – in general, they have green faces with green and black crests, and then have varieties of grey, black, white, and red bodies and necks, with black striping (or white striping if their bodies are black). The females have light brown stripes near their eyes and a variety of brown over the rest of their bodies. The juveniles tend to resemble the females until the first year of age, when the males begin getting their adult colors.

By Harry Rawat, CC BY-SA 4.0

Diet: The Koklass Pheasant eats a variety of seeds, berries, insects, and worms.

Behavior: This particular variety of pheasant is rarely seen foraging, being quite shy and flying away at the first sign of trouble, but it tends to scrape at the ground while searching for food. They especially love foraging around ferns. They form loose flocks occasionally, but primarily feed alone or in pairs in the early morning and late afternoon. They defend their territories extensively, making rhythmic “kraa-krra-kraara” calls over and over again with some variation based on home territory and individual. They also make a variety of other clucks and barks and high pitched alarm calls.

By Sheila Mary Castelino, CC BY-SA 4.0

This pheasant will call for mates at dawn starting in November and going through June. They form monogamous pairs, which nest from April to June – making a scrape in the ground under dense cover for the nest, the Koklass Pheasant then lines this scrape with twigs and leaves. They lay five to seven yellow eggs with reddish-brown marks, which are incubated for a month by the female. These birds do move downward in terms of elevation as it gets colder and the higher altitudes are more difficult to live in.

By P. Jeganathan, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ecosystem: The Koklass Pheasant lives in coniferous forest, especially in steep terrain, being associated with the HImalayan mountains; they also enjoy areas with dense bamboo. They tend to roost in the trees of these forests.

Other: The Koklass Pheasant is not endangered and is quite common throughout its very wide range, though local extinctions based on habitat loss and human hunting have been reported.

~ By Meig Dickson

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Africa, Galloanseran, Neogene, Omnivore, Quaternary, Terrestrial Tuesday

Numida meleagris

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Meig

By Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0

Etymology: From Numidia

First Described By: Linnaeus, 1764

Status: Extant, Least Concern

Time and Place: Numida has been known since about 2.6 million years ago, in the Piacenzian of the Pliocene of the Neogene, through today

The Helmeted Guineafowl is known from across sub-Saharan Africa

Physical Description: The Helmeted Guineafowl is an exceptionally distinctive bird, with a very round, large body, and a small but visually appealing head. They range from 53 to 63 centimeters in length, with the females slightly smaller than the males in terms of size, but otherwise identical in color. Their bodies are dark brown to black, with distinctive rows of white spots across all parts of it; they have long grey legs, with large flat feet. They have tiny heads with different colors, depending on the subspecies – the West African population has a white head, with a red wattle under the chin; the Saharan population has a blue head with a red patch on the top of the head; Reichenow’s population has red patches on the top and the bottom but also a blue head; and similar patterns can be seen on the Tufted population. All of these birds have an orange to brown crest on the top of the head, leading to its common name of Helmeted. The young start out brown and yellow striped, with a little brown patch on the top of the head; they begin to turn into a dull dark brown as teenagers, before transitioning into adult plumage.

By Roland Hunziker, CC BY-SA 2.0

Diet: The Helmeted Guineafowl is a true omnivore, feeding on a variety of seeds, tubers, bulbs, roots, berries, flowers, insects, snails, ticks, worms, and millipedes. Though they eat more plants than animals, it seems that is mainly due to relative abundance.

Behavior: The Helmeted Guineafowl is an extremely social bird, forming flocks of about 25 birds that spend all their time together – foraging and nesting; sometimes these flocks can even grow up to 100 individuals. They don’t fly often, but rather run about from place to place. They forage on the ground, scratching with their feet to dig up available food. These flocks are extremely complex, with the highest ranking males fighting to organize the flock’s daily activities, and the two highest ranking males will work together to fight off intruders into the habitat. Breeding females usually associated mainly with the high ranking males, especially the highest; leaving lower ranking males to lead the flock during this time when the higher ranking males help with rearing the chicks.

By Brian Gratwicke, CC BY 2.0

These birds begin breeding right after it rains or during the rainy season, which varies across its range. They are monogamous for the mating season only; these pairs are not maintained after the year is up. Early on in the season, even, the males will try to mate with multiple females. The nests are scrapes in the ground, made by the females and lined with grass and feathers – usually these scrapes are made in areas with long grass and hidden under brush. Six to twelve eggs are laid on successive days; sometimes more than one female will lay in a single nest, leading to up to fifty eggs. These eggs are usually yellowish to pale brown, with dark specking. The eggs are incubated by the females for about a month; the male then takes over in brooding the chicks the first two weeks after hatching. They can then fly poorly at two weeks; they fully fledge at a month; and they reach adult size after thirty weeks. The females are sexually mature at around that time. The family groups rejoin the larger flock when the chicks are about one to three months of age. Most of the chicks die, especially in cold weather.

By Snowmanradio, CC BY-SA 2.0

The Helmeted Guineafowl makes loud, cackling calls with a variety of intensities, including at roosts; they contact each other with more metallic clanking and far-carrying cheer-ing. The females will make nasal “ka-bak” calls that can increase in pitch to call to males. They don’t migrate, but rather, stay within one territory for their whole lives within their flocks. They do move to find sources of drinking water, as well as roosting sites.

Ecosystem: The Helmeted Guineafowl can be found all over the place, from the edges of forests, to the savanna, to thorn scrub, to steppe, to subdesert, to woodlands. They are especially common in the savanna. They are generally limited by the availability of drinking water and suitable nesting sites in trees and bushes. They are found occasionally in human-cultivated areas, even suburbs. They are usually found below 3000 meters high in elevation, and can be found in very large numbers around watering holes.

By Bernard DuPont, CC BY-SA 2.0

Other: The Helmeted Guineafowl is not, on the whole, threatened; there may be up to a million of these birds all over Africa. That being said, plenty of populations are more threatened than others, especially due to hunting and egg collecting. At least a few populations are more threatened than others. They have also been introduced to the Americas, specifically to aid in controlling Lyme Disease due to their propensity for feeding on ticks. These birds are often domesticated by people and served for their meat and eggs.

~ By Meig Dickson

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Africa, Eurasia, Galloanseran, Granivore, Neogene, Terrestrial Tuesday

Plioperdix

Posted on April 16, 2019 by Meig

By Scott Reid

Etymology: Partridge from the Pliocene

First Described By: Kretzoi, 1955

Referred Species: P. ponticus, P. hungarica, P. africana

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: Between 8.7 and 3 million years ago, from the Tortonian of the Miocene through the Piacenzian of the Pliocene, all in the Neogene

Plioperdix is known from the Chikoi Formation of Buryatia & Northern Mongolia; isolated localities in Moldova and Ukraine; locations in Morocco; and the Morskaya-2 Locality in the Rostovskaya Oblast. Range shown below approximate

Physical Description: Plioperdix was a small, round partridge, similar to ones today! However, it isn’t known from a lot of fossil material; mostly parts of the feet and other limbs. It would have been a medium-sized pheasant, similar to the modern partridge and Blood Pheasant. It had a fairly curved, long legs, at least compared to other partridges. Weirdly enough, its toes were more closely packed together than those of its relatives. Overall, it was a small partridge, similar to its relatives, but still a little bit weird at the end of the day.

Diet: Like in other partridges, Plioperdix probably fed mainly on seeds and other grains.

Behavior: Though little is known about the behavior of Plioperdix, it probably would have behaved much like modern partridges – walking around slowly, bobbing its head, and moving in together in groups to find food. It probably also would have taken care of its young, and been a fairly social sort of bird.

Ecosystem: Plioperdix lived in the grasslands of Eurasia as they began to spread along the continent; in at least one environment, it lived alongside a variety of rodents, lizards, snakes, hoofed mammals, and even an extinct genus of Hyena, which would have been a major pain in the ass for Plioperdix.

Other: Plioperdix is known from a very large range in Afroeurasia and may be more of a genus of convenience than anything else.

Species Differences: P. hungarica is known from the Miocene rather than the Pliocene; P. ponticus is known from the Pliocene of Eurasia; and P. africana is known from the Pliocene of Morocco.

~ By Meig Dickson

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Galloanseran, Granivore, Insectivore, North America, Omnivore, Quaternary, South America, Terrestrial Tuesday

Rhynchortyx cinctus

Posted on January 22, 2019 by Meig

By John Gerrard Keulemans, in the Public Domain

Etymology: Bill Quail

First Described By: Ogilvie-Grant, 1893

Status: Extant, Least Concern

Time and Place: Within the last 10,000 years, in the Holocene epoch of the Quaternary

The Tawny-Faced Quail is known from central and South America, mainly along the coast in the Equator

Physical Description: The Tawny-Faced Quail, being a quail, is a small bird with a very round body and tiny head. It also features a short, round beak, and stubby legs. The tail of the Tawny-Faced Quail is quite short, like in other Quails. The Tawny-Faced Quail is about 20 centimeters long, making it only somewhat smaller in terms of size than a standard soccer (football) ball. This bird is, in general, brown, though the sexes differ distinctly in color. The males have brighter heads, white chests, and yellow bellies; while the females have dark read chests that match their faces, and white bellies. Both sexes have brown back, wing, and tail feathers. Juveniles are similar to the females, but darker in general coloration; and the young are chocolate brown in color.

Diet: The Tawny-Faced Quail feeds on seeds, worms, and insects, mainly by pecking.

Behavior: These birds make hollow, dove-esque calls, which are introduced with a series of whistles. They mostly make sounds at dusk, but also at night as they roost on perches low to the ground. They congregate in pairs or small groups and rarely fly, mainly running short distances. They then freeze where they are concealed, using their natural camouflage to hide from predators. The females lay eggs in March and April, and the species is monogamous, sticking with one partner for most of their lives. They do not migrate, but stay within their ranges year-round.

Ecosystem: The Tawny-Faced Quail live in lowland tropical forest, where they spend most of their time on the ground and roost in low-lying vegetation. They are a prey species and are hunted by a variety of larger predators in the jungle ecosystem.

Other: Though not threatened with extinction, the current population is on a slight decline.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources

Carroll, J.P., Kirwan, G.M. & Boesman, P. 2019. Tawny-faced Quail (Rhynchortyx cinctus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Jobling, J. A. 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. Christopher Helm Publishing, A&C Black Publishers Ltd, London.

Australia & Oceania, Galloanseran, Omnivore, Quaternary, Terrestrial Tuesday

Garrdimalga mcnamarai

Posted on January 15, 2019January 15, 2019 by Meig

By Ripley Cook

Etymology: Emu Waterhole

First Described By: Shute et al., 2017

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: Garrdimalga lived sometime in the Pleistocene, though the exact age is uncertain; so, anytime between 2.58 million and 11,700 years ago

Garrdimalga was found in the Curramulka Quarry in South Australia, shown below

Physical Description: Garrdimalga was a Megapode, a group of chicken-like dinosaurs that look quite a lot like other landfowl (for example, one living species is even called a Brushturkey), however, they are distinct from all other dinosaurs due to their unique method of breeding (which I shall discuss more below). Garrdimalga was a unique, Ice Age species of Megapode, known from bones of the wing, shoulders, and feet, and part of the skull. Garrdimalga had wings somewhat more twisted towards the head than other Megapodes, and it had somewhat different twisted foot bones than living members of this group. It had a short beak, large wing bones, and general similarity to other extinct, giant, flying, turkey-like Megapodes in Australia during the Pleistocene. Probably larger than most living species of Megapode, due to its bone measurements as well as large size commonly seen in Ice Age species of animals, to deal with the glaciation and weird weather patterns.

Diet: Like other Megapodes, Garrdimalga was probably omnivorous, though specifics are not known.

Behavior: Megapodes today exhibit a very unique behavior in that they build mounds for their eggs, which are incubated with rotting vegetation and heat from the ground and volcanic activity. The adults then do not take care of the young, and the hatched chicks are superprecocial, able to take care of themselves immediately and even fly at hatching. Garrdimalga probably also exhibited this behavior. It probably also was able to fly. Little else is known about its behavior at this time, though it probably would have acted like modern megapodes in other ways as well.

Ecosystem: This area would have been mostly a large, river-associated plain, dried out due to the extensive glaciation at the time. This would have greatly affected the life history of Garrdimalga depending on the time in the glaciation cycle. A variety of large, weird marsupials would have shared the environment with Garrdimalga, as well as other large Ice Age birds (including other large Megapodes).

Other: Garrdimalga was recently described and the material was not good enough for a phylogenetic analysis; more studies are needed to learn more about this large Ice Age Megapode.

~ By Meig Dickson

Source

Shute, E., G. J. Prideaux, T. H. Worthy. 2017. Taxonomic Review of the Late Cenozoic Megapodes (Galliformes: Megapodiidae) of Australia. Royal Society Open Science 4: 17023