Lavanttalornis, Bochenski & Happ & Salwa & Tomek, 2023

Bochenski, Zbigniew M., Happ, Johannes, Salwa, Grzegorz & Tomek, Teresa, 2023, An intriguing new species of dabbling duck (Aves: Anseriformes) from the middle Miocene of Austria, Palaeontologia Electronica (a 52) 26 (3), pp. 1-19 : 3-4

Genus LAVANTTALORNIS gen. nov.

zoobank.org/ 9592EB4E-37D8-457E-881B-0DBAA710D6EF

Type species. Lavanttalornis hassleri gen. et sp. nov.

Etymology. After the Lavanttal valley where the specimen was found, added to the Ancient Greek ὄρΝΙΣ (órnis) meaning “bird”.

Taxonomic remarks. The new species resembles Anatidae in overall morphology and a unique combination of the following characters: the end of the beak bears foramina neurovascularia; the shape and proportions of the pelvis correspond to those of anatids; the coracoid bears a deeply concave cotyla scapularis of a rounded-triangular shape, short processus procoracoideus, and laterally protruding facies articularis humeralis; the humerus bears the facet of the tuberculum supracondylare ventrale that is cranially buttressed and tilted distally, and there is no prominent tuberculum supracondylare dorsale; in tibiotarsus, the condylus medialis projects much medially in relations to distal shaft, and lateral side of distal shaft forms a sharp edge that slants anteriorly towards condylus lateralis.

Differential diagnosis. Lavanttalornis hassleri gen. et sp. nov. is distinguished from:

* Mionetta blanchardi ( Milne-Edwards, 1863) , from the late Oligocene to middle Miocene of Europe, in: coracoid with medial margin of the omal section of the shaft strongly inclined medially and almost straight, processus acrocoracoideus hardly protruding beyond the medial margin of shaft, and facies articularis sternalis almost straight, humerus with roundish condylus ventralis, and distal end expanded little ventrally, and relatively wide phalanx proximalis digiti majoris with bulging caudal edge;

* Mionetta consobrina (Milne-Edwards, 1867– 1868), from the early Miocene of Europe, in: coracoid with medial margin of the omal section of the shaft strongly inclined medially and almost straight, and processus acrocoracoideus hardly protruding beyond the medial margin of shaft;

* Mionetta natator (Milne-Edwards, 1867– 1868), from the late Oligocene to early Miocene of Europe, in: coracoid with medial margin of the omal section of the shaft strongly inclined medially and almost straight, processus acrocoracoideus hardly protruding beyond the medial margin of shaft, and facies articularis sternalis almost straight;

* Miotadorna sanctibathansi Worthy, Tennyson, Jones, McNamara, and Douglas, 2007 , from the early middle Miocene of New Zealand, in: coracoid with facies articularis sternalis almost straight, and humerus with distal end expanded little ventrally;

* Manuherikia Worthy, Tennyson, Jones, McNamara, and Douglas, 2007 , and Dunstanetta Worthy, Tennyson, Jones, McNamara, and Douglas, 2007 , from the early middle Miocene of New Zealand, in: coracoid with medial margin of the omal section of the shaft strongly inclined medially and almost straight, and humerus with relatively thick shaft that does not narrow distally;

* Pinpanetta Worthy, 2009 , from the late Oligocene/early Miocene of Australia, in: coracoid with medial margin of the omal section of the shaft strongly inclined medially and almost straight, and processus acrocoracoideus hardly protruding beyond the medial margin of shaft;

* Sharganetta mongolica Zelenkov, 2011 , Nogusunna conflictoides Zelenkov, 2011 , and Protomelanitta gracilis Zelenkov, 2011 , from the middle Miocene of Mongolia, in: humerus with shallow notch of incisura capitis in proximal outline of the bone, and distal end expanded little ventrally;

* Chenoanas deserta Zelenkov, 2012b , and Chenoanas asiatica Zelenkov, Stidham, Martynovich, Volkova, Li, Qui, 2018 , both from the middle Miocene of eastern Russia and Mongolia, Chenoanas sansaniensis (Milne-Edwards, 1867–1868), from the early to middle Miocene of Europe, eastern Russia and Mongolia, Aix praeclara Zelenkov et Kurochkin, 2012 , Mioquerquedula soporata ( Kurochkin, 1976) , and Mioquerquedula minutissima Zelenkov et Kurochkin, 2012 , all from the middle Miocene of Mongolia, and Protomelanitta velox (Milne-Edwards, 1867) , from the middle Miocene of France, in: coracoid with medial margin of the omal section of the shaft strongly inclined medially and almost straight, and processus acrocoracoideus hardly protruding beyond the medial margin of shaft;

* Aythya denesi ( Kessler, 2013) from the late Miocene of Hungary, and Bambolinetta lignitifila ( Portis, 1884) from the late Miocene of Italy, in: humerus with relatively thick shaft that does not narrow distally;

* Aythya shihuibas Hou, 1985 , from the late Miocene of China, and Aythya molesta ( Kurochkin, 1985) , from the late Miocene of Mongolia, in: humerus with shallow notch of incisura capitis in proximal outline of the bone;

* Matanas enrighti Worthy, Tennyson, Jones, McNamara and Douglas, 2007 , from the early-middle Miocene of New Zealand, in: coracoid with processus acrocoracoideus hardly protruding beyond the medial margin of shaft;

* Anas kurochkini Zelenkov et Panteleyev, 2015 , from the late Miocene of northeastern Sea of Azov region, Russia, in: coracoid with medial margin of the omal section of the shaft strongly inclined medially and almost straight, thick crista acrocoracoidea, facies articularis humeralis with acute cranial angle and projecting little laterally, and facies articularis sternalis almost straight;

* all extant ducks by a unique combination of characters: coracoid with medial margin of the omal section of the shaft strongly inclined medially and almost straight, ventral plane of processus acrocoracoideus subparallel to the ventral plane of the extremitas sternalis, processus acrocoracoideus hardly protruding beyond the medial margin of shaft, and facies articularis sternalis almost straight, humerus with distal end expanded little ventrally, and relatively wide phalanx proximalis digiti majoris with bulging caudal edge.