''Palaealectoris'' 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 ...

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

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 ...

landfowl Galliformes is an order (biology), order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkey (bird), turkeys, chickens, Old World quail, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems ...

, belonging to the family

Tetraonidae Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes, in the family Phasianidae. Grouse are presently assigned to the tribe Tetraonini (formerly the subfamily Tetraoninae and the family Tetraonidae), a classification supported by mitochondri ...

, distantly related with modern

grouse Grouse are a group of birds from the order (biology), order Galliformes, in the family (biology), family Phasianidae. Grouse are presently assigned to the Tribe (biology), tribe Tetraonini (formerly the subfamily Tetraoninae and the family Tetr ...

s. Its fossilized remains, found in the Marsland Formation, a part of the

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is a U.S. National Monument near Harrison, Nebraska. The main features of the monument are a valley of the Niobrara River and the fossils found on Carnegie Hill and University Hill. The area largely consist ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, and in the

Calvert Formation The Calvert Formation is a Formation (geology), geologic formation in Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware. It preserves fossils dating back to the early to middle Miocene, Miocene epoch of the Neogene Period (geology), period. It is one of the three ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, are dated from the Early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

History and etymology

The first remains associated with the genus, a fragmentary

tibiotarsus The tibiotarsus is the large bone between the femur and the tarsometatarsus in the leg of a bird. It is the fusion of the proximal part of the tarsus with the tibia. A similar structure also occurred in the Mesozoic Heterodontosauridae. These ...

, were collected in May 1925 in marine strata belonging to the

-aged

, near

Chesapeake Beach, Maryland Chesapeake Beach is a town in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. Its major attractions include the Chesapeake Beach Railway Station, the Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail, a water park, marinas, piers, and charter boat fishing. The town's pop ...

, by

Remington Kellogg Arthur Remington Kellogg (5 October 1892 – 8 May 1969) was an American naturalist and a director of the United States National Museum. His work focused on marine mammals. Early life and career Kellogg was born in Davenport, Iowa, and quickly ...

and

Norman Boss Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

remains of ''Palaealectoris'' were collected during the summer of 1928 by

Erich Maren Schlaikjer Erich Maren Schlaikjer ( ; November 22, 1905 in Newtown, Ohio – November 5, 1972) was an American geologist and dinosaur hunter. Assisting Barnum Brown, he co-described ''Pachycephalosaurus'' and what is now ''Montanoceratops''. Other discoveri ...

in Lower Miocene deposits belonging to the Agate Fossil Beds in

Sioux County, Nebraska Sioux County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,135. Its county seat is Harrison. Sioux County is included in the Scottsbluff, NE Micropolitan Statistical Area. In the Nebr ...

. The genus was first described shortly after, in 1930, by

Alexander Wetmore Frank Alexander Wetmore (June 18, 1886 – December 7, 1978) was an American ornithologist and avian paleontologist. He was the sixth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was also an elected member of both the American Philosophical Soc ...

, at Schlaikjer's demand, based on the two extremities of a left

humerus The humerus (; : humeri) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius (bone), radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extrem ...

, with ''P. incertus'' as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. The Maryland remains were described as ''Palaealectoris'' sp.

Description

''Palaealectoris'' was a medium-sized landfowl, intermediate in size between the

bobwhite ''Colinus'' is a genus of birds in the New World quail family, Odontophoridae. Members of the genus are commonly known as bobwhites. Taxonomy The genus ''Colinus'' was introduced in 1820 by the German naturalist Georg August Goldfuss to accommo ...

s and the spruce grouse. The superior crest of the humerus shared several similarities in development with that of the

chachalaca Chachalacas are galliform birds from the genus ''Ortalis''. These birds are found in wooded habitats in the far southern United States (Texas), Mexico, and Central and South America. They are social, can be very noisy and often remain fairly ...

s, although this was probably a convergent adaptation. The general shape of the humerus is however sufficient to assign it to the

family, although it represents an abherrant form. The fragmentary

from the

associated with the genus was distinctly similar, although smaller, with that of the modern spruce grouse. It was similar in size with the holotype humerus of ''P. incertus'', which justified its association with the genus.

References

Fossil taxa described in 1930 Phasianidae Monotypic prehistoric bird genera {{Galliformes-stub