English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

An avian coracoid from the early Pleistocene Qigequan Formation in the Qaidam Basin, Qinghai Province, China, in the northern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau represents one of the few avian fossils from the region. The specimen is from an individual of a shelduck (Tadorna sp.), and its phylogenetic position is supported by the presence of a procoracoid notch (where the procoracoid foramen is greatly reduced) and other osteological characters. The previous hypothesis of extreme aridity in the Qaidam Basin during the early Pleistocene is lessened by the presence of a shelduck (along with the fossil record of proboscideans) that is part of a clade that occurs and breeds on the arid Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau today. In addition, the occurrence of Chinese shelducks in arid environments today likely evolved in combination with the increase in elevation and intensifying aridity in the plateau region since the early Pleistocene. Thomas A. Stidham. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China presbyornis@gmail.com Xiaoming Wang. Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, California 90007, USA xwang@nhm.org Qiang Li. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China liqiang@ivpp.ac.cn Xijun Ni. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China nixijun@ivpp.ac.cn

A shelduck coracoid (Aves: Anseriformes: Tadorna) from the arid early Pleistocene of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China