The presence of Harlequin duck Histrionicus histrionicus (Linnaeus 1758) in the Middle Pleistocene of Italy

A nearly complete coracoid of Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus (Linnaeus 1758) is described from the Middle Pleistocene of Casal Selce (Rome, Central Italy). The fossil specimen is verywell preserved and itsmorphology and dimensions are perfectly compatiblewith those ofmodern HarlequinDuck,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: PAVIA, Marco, C. Bedetti
Other Authors: M. Pavia
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2318/136241
Description
Summary:A nearly complete coracoid of Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus (Linnaeus 1758) is described from the Middle Pleistocene of Casal Selce (Rome, Central Italy). The fossil specimen is verywell preserved and itsmorphology and dimensions are perfectly compatiblewith those ofmodern HarlequinDuck, and differ fromother candidate diving ducks. This record represents the first European fossil of this species, previously recorded as fossil only in North America, and one of the few European documented records of wild-origin bird outside Iceland, where the species is sedentary.