''Procariama'' is an extinct

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 "unispec ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

phorusrhacid Phorusrhacids, colloquially known as terror birds, are an extinct clade of large carnivorous flightless birds that were one of the largest species of apex predators in South America during the Cenozoic era; their conventionally accepted temporal ...

, which lived from the

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million years ago) to 5.333 Ma. The ...

to the

Late Pliocene Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effe ...

(11-2 million years ago) of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

Fossils 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 preserved ...

of the animal have been found in six places, in the Cerro Azul and Andalhuala Formations. More specifically in the Andagalá department and in the north of the

Belén department Belén is a department of Catamarca Province in Argentina. The provincial subdivision has a population of about 12,000 inhabitants in an area of , and its capital city is Belén, which is located around 1,465 kilometres from Buenos Aires City ...

of the

Catamarca province Catamarca () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province had a population of 334,568 as per the , and covers an area of 102,602 km2. Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are (clockwise, fr ...

, with a single location in the

La Pampa province La Pampa () is a sparsely populated province of Argentina, located in the Pampas in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise San Luis, Córdoba, Buenos Aires, Río Negro, Neuquén and Mendoza. History In 1 ...

. The type and only species, ''Procariama simplex'', is the largest member of the subfamily

Psilopterinae Phorusrhacids, colloquially known as terror birds, are an extinct clade of large carnivorous flightless birds that were one of the largest species of apex predators in South America during the Cenozoic era; their conventionally accepted tempor ...

History of Discovery

The lectotype of ''Procariama'' (MACN-8225) is a partial skeleton consisting of an incomplete

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, t ...

, a pelvis,

proximal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position ...

and

distal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

parts of the left

femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates wit ...

, distal parts of the right

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 sm ...

, proximal and distal parts of the right

tarsometatarsus The tarsometatarsus is a bone that is only found in the lower leg of birds and some non-avian dinosaurs. It is formed from the fusion of several bones found in other types of animals, and homologous to the mammalian tarsus (ankle bones) and meta ...

foot The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg mad ...

bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

and the

nail Nail or Nails may refer to: In biology * Nail (anatomy), toughened protective protein-keratin (known as alpha-keratin, also found in hair) at the end of an animal digit, such as fingernail * Nail (beak), a plate of hard horny tissue at the tip ...

bearing

toe Toes are the digits (fingers) of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being '' digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being '' plan ...

bones of the nearly complete left foot, and fragments of the toe bones of the right foot. The genus name was first published in 1914 by

Cayetano Rovereto Cayetano is a Spanish and sometimes Sephardic Jewish name related to the Italian name Gaetano (English: '' Cajetan''), both from Latin ''Caietanus'', meaning "from Gaeta". It is a common given name in Spain, Mexico, Argentina and the Philippines. As ...

in ''Anales del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural''.

Description

Reaching about in height and in body mass, ''Procariama'' was one of the smaller phorusrhacids. However, it was larger than ''Psilopterus'', ''

Paleopsilopterus ''Paleopsilopterus'' is an extinct genus of giant flightless predatory birds within Cariamiformes. It is usually attributed to the subfamily Psilopterinae of the family Phorusrhacidae, or "terror birds", though doubts about such an identity hav ...

'', and other members of the subfamily Psilopterinae. ''Procariama'' is quite similar to ''Psilopterus'', but differs from this genus in both size and a more robust build. This more robust build can be attributed to a slight difference in the ratio between the bones of the legs, with the thigh being comparatively shorter in ''Procariama''. Next to this, the wing bones of ''Procariama'' are also proportionally smaller than those of ''Psilopterus''. In the tarsometatarsus, the hypotarsus has two protrusions, one laterally and one medially, in its most proximal portion. These protrusions look like two crests, which is different from the condition in both ''Psilopterus'' and ''Paleopsilopterus''. The genus is very similar to ''Mesembriornis'' and lived during the same geological period, making fossils of the two easily confused. This happened, for example, in the original publication by Rovereto. The genus name of the animal means “before ''

Cariama The red-legged seriema (''Cariama cristata''), also known as the crested cariama and crested seriema, is a mostly predatory terrestrial bird in the seriema family ( Cariamidae), included in the Gruiformes in the old paraphyletic circumscription ...

''”, referring to the genus ''Cariama'', the red-legged seriema, which is a genus of small, carnivorous

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and enterta ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

. It is also the closest living relative of the Phorusrhachids.

Known material

Three specimens of ''Procariama'' are known in addition to the lectotype. Firstly, there's MACN-6939, consisting of a femur missing its distal end, the distal part of the left tarsometatarsus and a few pedal phalanges. Secondly we have FM-P 14525, an exquisitely preserved and nearly complete skeleton.

Classification

Like all phorusrhacids, ''Procariama'' is part of the order

Cariamiformes Cariamiformes (or Cariamae) is an order of primarily flightless birds that has existed for over 60 million years. The group includes the family Cariamidae (seriemas) and the extinct families Phorusrhacidae, Bathornithidae, Idiornithidae and ...

, the only modern representatives of which are the

seriemas The seriemas are the sole living members of the small bird family Cariamidae, which is also the only surviving lineage of the order Cariamiformes. Once believed to be related to cranes, they have been placed near the falcons, parrots and passerin ...

. ''Procariama'' is traditionally placed in the subfamily Psilopterinae, but in the description of ''Llallawavis scagliai'', it is placed in the subfamily

Mesembriornithinae Phorusrhacids, colloquially known as terror birds, are an extinct clade of large carnivorous flightless birds that were one of the largest species of apex predators in South America during the Cenozoic era; their conventionally accepted temporal ...

as a sister taxon of ''Llallawavis''.

References

External links

Genus Taxonomy
Phorusrhacidae Extinct flightless birds Miocene birds of South America Pliocene birds of South America Huayquerian Montehermosan Neogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Cerro Azul Formation Fossil taxa described in 1914 {{paleo-bird-stub