''Bimbisula'' ("dawn

booby A booby is a seabird in the genus ''Sula'', part of the family Sulidae. Boobies are closely related to the gannets (''Morus''), which were formerly included in ''Sula''. Systematics and evolution The genus ''Sula'' was introduced by the Fre ...

") is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of sulid bird known from

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s discovered in

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

and only named species is ''B. melanodactylos''. The genus name is a combination of the

Gullah The Gullah () are a subgroup of the African Americans, African American ethnic group, who predominantly live in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida within ...

name "Bimbi", meaning dawn, with "sula", an Icelandic word for "fool" that has been used to describe boobies (Sulidae, '' Sula'') in general. The species name is

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

for "black-fingered", referring to the iron staining that darkened the bones of the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

. ''Bimbisula melanodactylos'' is based on

Charleston Museum The Charleston Museum is a museum located in the Wraggborough neighborhood in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1773, it is the oldest museum in the United States. Its collection includes historic artifacts, natural history, decorative ...

PV2818, a partial skeleton including fragments of the skull,

shoulder girdle The shoulder girdle or pectoral girdle is the set of bones in the appendicular skeleton which connects to the arm on each side. In humans, it consists of the clavicle and scapula; in those species with three bones in the shoulder, it consists o ...

, left

upper arm The upper limbs or upper extremities are the forelimbs of an upright-postured tetrapod vertebrate, extending from the scapulae and clavicles down to and including the digits, including all the musculatures and ligaments involved with the should ...

, right hand, and fused hip vertebrae, and much of the right leg. It was collected in 1980 by James Malcolm from a locality along the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...

Charleston County Charleston County is located in the U.S. state of South Carolina along the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 408,235, making it the List of counties in South Carolina, third-mos ...

in the vicinity of the Dorchester Road overpass. A second specimen assigned to the species,

Science Museum of Minnesota The Science Museum of Minnesota is a museum in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, focused on topics in technology, natural history, physical science, and mathematics education. Founded in 1907, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit institution has 38 ...

P90.38.8, consists of a cranium discovered in October 1990 by

Bruce Erickson Bruce R. Erickson (September 29, 1933 – January 16, 2022) was an American paleontologist and the former Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology at the Science Museum of Minnesota. During the course of his lifetime and his 55 years as a paleontologist, ...

near the Wando Terminal. Both specimens were found in the

Goose Creek Limestone The Goose Creek Limestone is a geologic formation in South Carolina. It preserves fossils dating back to the Neogene period. See also * List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in South Carolina * Paleontology in South Carolina The location ...

, of middle Pliocene age. The type specimen comes from the upper part of the formation, which is approximately 3.6 to 3.5 million years old. The exact stratigraphy of the second specimen is uncertain, and it may be anywhere from 3.9 to 3.5 million years old. ''Bimbisula'' was a large sulid, comparable in size to smaller species of

gannet Gannets are seabirds comprising the genus ''Morus'' in the family Sulidae, closely related to boobies. They are known as 'solan' or 'solan goose' in Scotland. A common misconception is that the Scottish name is 'guga' but this is the Gaelic n ...

s, and its skeleton shows a combination of booby-like and gannet-like characteristics.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16842005 Sulidae Pliocene birds Pliocene birds of North America Fossil taxa described in 2013