Mergus sp.

Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile & Geraads, Denis, 2010, The Upper Pliocene Avifauna of Ahl al Oughlam, Morocco. Systematics and Biogeography, Records of the Australian Museum 62 (1), pp. 157-184 : 168

Mergus sp.

Material. Right carpometacarpus, proximal part, AaO-2659.

This carpometacarpus has been compared with the following genera of Oxyurinae (Worthy & Lee, 2008) ( Biziura , Heteronetta , Thalassornis , Stictonetta , Malacorhynchus ) and Anatinae ( Alopochen , Tadorna , Plectropterus , Cairina , Sarkidiornis , Nettapus , Aix , Chenonetta , Amazonetta , Merganetta , Anas , Marmaronetta , Netta , Aythya , Somateria , Polysticta , Histrionicus , Clangula , Melanitta , Bucephala , Mergus ) present in the USNM collection, and it is most similar to the genus Mergus . The alular metacarpal is not very projecting, both cranially and proximally. The dorsal face of this alular metacarpal has a depression that is more marked in the genus Mergus than in the other members of Anatinae . Its proximal craniocaudal depth, 10.9 mm, is included in the variation range of the Recent species Mergus serrator , the Red-breasted Merganser ( Woelfle, 1967).

At the present time the Red-breasted Merganser does not winter on the Atlantic coasts of Morocco, but it is present, at the same latitude, on the Atlantic coasts of North America (del Hoyo et al., 1992). Mergus aff. M. serrator is also present in the Pliocene of the Yorktown Formation (Olson & Rasmussen, 2001).

Order Galliformes