Coturnicini Reichenbach, 1848
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.4202/app.00509.2018 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03D7DD10-4162-FF98-0EF2-FAA4FEB8FB11 |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Coturnicini Reichenbach, 1848 |
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Tribe Coturnicini Reichenbach, 1848 Coturnicini gen. et sp. indet.
Fig. 4 View Fig .
Material.—Loc. 3, Shiriya, Aomori Prefecture, Japan; Late Pleistocene (~MIS 5e): NSMT PV 24543, right distal humerus. Locality unrecorded, Shiriya, Aomori Prefecture, Japan; Middle–Late Pleistocene (~MIS 9/5e): NSMT PV 24544–24546, one right and two left distal tibiotarsi, respectively; NSMT PV 24547, right proximal tarsometatarsus.
Measurements.—See Table 2.
Description.—One distal end of the humerus was recovered ( Fig. 4A View Fig ). The fossil can be referred to Coturnicini ( Coturnix , Synoicus , Tetraogallus , Alectoris , Ammoperdix , Perdicula , and Pternistis ) by the following features that are apparently unique within Phasianidae : the concavity of the ventral surface of the epicondylus ventralis caudal to the pit for the m. pronator superficialis ( Fig. 4A View Fig 2 View Fig ), and the fossa m. brachialis being narrow and restricted to the ventral half of the shaft (the latter feature is exceptionally absent in Tetraogallus ). Within Coturnicini , the fossil agrees with Coturnix and Synoicus and differs from the other genera examined in the presence of a marked depression on the cranioproximal margin of the condylus dorsalis. Furthermore, the fossil differs from Tetraogallus in the ventral position of the fossa m. brachialis mentioned above, and from Perdicula in a less abrupt dorsoventral expansion of the shaft toward the distal end. In these features, the fossil is consistent with Coturnix and Synoicus , which are osteologically rather similar to each other.
Three fragmentary distal ends of the tibiotarsus ( Fig. 4C View Fig ) and one proximal end of the tarsometatarsus ( Fig. 4B View Fig ) of a small phasianid were recovered. As few taxonomically useful characters can be observed in these fossils, they are tentatively assigned to the same species with the humerus.
Remarks.—The overall consistency of size suggests that only one species of Coturnicini is represented in the Shiriya material. Although the known elements could not be separated from modern Coturnix japonica , the only species of quail that occurs on the central Japanese islands today, it is not certain if it can be differentiated from other species of Coturnix or Synoicus , which are distributed throughout the Old World and Oceania.
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