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Stemec
''Stemec'' is an extinct genus of Plotopteridae, a family of flightless seabird similar in biology with penguins, but more closely related to modern cormorants. The genus is known from terrains dated from the Late Oligocene Sooke Formation of British Columbia History and etymology Although the fossil remains of large marine birds like the Pelagornithid '' Cyphornis'' are known from the Sooke Formation of the Oligocene of Vancouver Island since 1894, the first remains of plotopterids from the formation were only discovered in 2013 in the vicinity of Sooke by Leah and Graham Suntok. In 2015, those remains were described by Gary Kaiser, Junya Watanabe and Marji Johns as the new genus and species ''Stemec suntokum'', using as holotype the specimen RBCM.EH2014.032.0001.001, a nearly complete coracoid. Etymology The genus name, ''Stemec'', designate an indefinite long-necked black waterbird in the Coast Salish language native of the area in which the holotype was discovered. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tonsala
''Tonsala'' is an extinct genus of Plotopteridae, a family of flightless seabird similar in biology with penguins, but more closely related to modern cormorants. The genus is known from terrains dated from the Late Oligocene of the State of Washington and Japan. History and Etymology In 1979, Storrs L. Olson and Hasegawa Yoshikazu identified several fossilized specimens of Late Oligocene and Early Miocene birds found in the State of Washington and in Japan as members of the family Plotopteridae, but distinct enough from ''Plotopterum'' in their general anatomy to warrant their own genus. The Washington fossils, collected by Douglas Emlong in Late Oligocene terrains of the Pysht Formation, in the north of the Olympic Peninsula, were formally described the next year, 1980, by Olson himself, as the type of the new genus and species ''Tonsala hildegardae''. Olson ascribed to the genus the holotype USNM 256518, an incomplete specimen comprising a fragmentary humerus, fragments of a d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
