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ADDITIONAL NOTES ON SUBFOSSIL BIRD REMAINS FROM ASCENSION ISLAND
Author(s) -
Olson Storrs L.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
ibis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1474-919X
pISSN - 0019-1019
DOI - 10.1111/j.1474-919x.1977.tb02043.x
Subject(s) - subfossil , puffinus , geography , egretta , ecology , seabird , zoology , egret , biology , archaeology , holocene , predation , gamma ray , physics , astrophysics
Summary More extensive collections of subfossil bird bones from Ascension Island in the South Atlantic further confirm that the former seabird populations of the main island were composed of tropical species still present in greatly reduced numbers, mostly on offshore islets. A single specimen of Puffinus lherminieri provides the first fossil evidence of that species from the island. The extinct flightless rail Atlantisia elpenor was the only land bird certainly known to have been native. A femur, apparently from a vagrant individual, is referred to Porphyrula alleni , A specimen of Nycticorax , much smaller than any recent examples of N. nycticorax seen, is either from an unusually small vagrant or possibly indicates an undescribed endemic species.