Macranhinga

Macranhinga is a genus of extinct darters belonging to the Anhingidae. The type species is M. paranensis, which was described on the basis of complete tarsometatarsi and several dissociated skeletal elements. All the specimens come from the Ituzaingó Formation that crops out discontinuously along the eastern cliffs of the Paraná River in northeastern Argentina, the river from which the specific epithet is derived.[3] The most striking feature of this bird is its large size, much greater than in all other known fossil or extant anhingas.[1]

Macranhinga
Temporal range: Late Miocene (Huayquerian)
~9–7.3 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Suliformes
Family: Anhingidae
Genus: Macranhinga
Noriega, 1992
Type species
Macaranhinga paranensis
Noriega 1992
Species
  • M. paranensis Noriega 1992[1]
  • M. ranzii Cozzuol 2006[2]

A second species, M. ranzii was described from the Solimões Formation in Acre, Amazonian Brazil,[2] later this species was also found in the Ituzaingó Formation.[4]

References

  1. Noriega, 2001, p.248
  2. Cozzuol, 2006
  3. Noriega & Agnolín, 2008, p.275
  4. Noriega & Agnolín, 2008, p.277

Bibliography

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