''Viator picis'' is an extinct genus and species of lapwing (
Charadriiformes
Charadriiformes (, from '' Charadrius'', the type genus of family Charadriidae) is a diverse order of small to medium-large birds. It includes about 390 species and has members in all parts of the world. Most charadriiform birds live near water ...
;
Charadriidae
The bird family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterels, and lapwings. The family contains 69 species that are divided into 10 genera.
Taxonomy
The family Charadriidae was introduced (as Charadriadæ) by the English zoologist William El ...
;
Vanellinae) known only from the upper
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
asphalt
Asphalt most often refers to:
* Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete
* Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...
deposits known as the
Talara Tar Seeps
Talara is a city in the Talara Province of the Piura Region, in northwestern Peru. It is a port city on the Pacific Ocean with a population of 91,444 as of 2017. Its climate is hot and dry. Due to its oil reserves, and ability to produce aviatio ...
, which are found near
Talara
Talara is a city in the Talara Province of the Piura Region, in northwestern Peru. It is a port city on the Pacific Ocean with a population of 91,444 as of 2017. Its climate is hot and dry. Due to its oil reserves, and ability to produce aviati ...
, northwestern
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
. It was described by Campbell (1979). Although it appears to be related to the
southern lapwing
The southern lapwing (''Vanellus chilensis''), commonly called quero-quero in Brazil, or tero in Argentina and Uruguay, tero-tero in Paraguay, and queltehue in Chile is a wader in the order Charadriiformes. It is a common and widespread resident ...
(''Belonopterus chilensis'') and the
Andean lapwing
The Andean lapwing (''Vanellus resplendens'') is a species of bird in family Charadriidae, the plovers and their relatives. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Taxonomy and systematics
The Andean lapwing wa ...
(''Belonopterus resplendens''), it is quite distinct from ''
Vanellus
''Vanellus'' is the genus of waders which provisionally contains all lapwings except red-kneed dotterel, ''Erythrogonys cinctus''. The name "''vanellus''" is Latin for "little fan", ''vanellus'' being the diminutive of ''vannus'' ("Winnowing#In ...
sensu stricto
''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...
''; however, most authorities now include the former two species in an expanded ''Vanellus'' which includes all lapwings, in which case ''Viator picis'' may belong in ''Vanellus'' as well.
References
*
Vanellinae
Pleistocene birds
Birds described in 1979
Fossil taxa described in 1979
Pleistocene animals of South America
{{Charadriiformes-stub