Gallicolumba longitarsus Balouet & Olson 1989

Gallicolumba longitarsus

Gallicolumba longitarsus Balouet, 1987:178 [nomen nudum].

HOLOTYPE.—Complete left tarsometatarsus, NCP 100, Institut de Paléontologie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris (Figure 7G,H).

TYPE LOCALITY.—From apparently Holocene deposits in Pindai Cave, Nepoui Peninsula, west coast of New Caledonia. 21°20′S, 164°57′E.

MEASUREMENTS OF HOLOTYPE (mm).—Length, 51.6; proximal width, 8.1; proximal depth through hypotarsus, 8.1; width and depth at midpoint, 3.0 × 2.9; distal width, 7.9. (See also Table 7.)

PARATYPES.—Pindai Cave: complete left femur (NCP 101); proximal half of left femur (NCP 102); distal half of right tarsometatarsus (NCP 103); proximal fragment of left tarsometatarsus sometatarsus (NCP 104); partial left coracoid (NCP 105).

MEASUREMENTS OF PARATYPES.—See Table 7.

COMPARATIVE MATERIAL.—Gallicolumba luzonica (Scopoli), 18 USNM; G. criniger (Pucheran), 2 USNM; G. tristigmata (Bonaparte), 2 (and 2 trunks) USNM; G. stairi (Gray), 1 trunk USNM; G. rubescens (Vieillot), 1 (and 2 trunks) USNM.

DIAGNOSIS.—Largest species of the genus yet known (Table 7). Femur with small but well developed pneumatic foramen on the anterior face of the trochanter, a feature lacking in all congeners. Inner side of the proximal half of the tarsometatarsus thicker than in other species of Gallicolumba.

ETYMOLOGY.—Latin, longus (long), and tarsus (foot), in reference to the very slender, elongate tarsometatarsus of this species. The name is used as a noun in apposition.

STATUS.—Extinct, endemic; known from fossils only.

MATERIAL.—Gilles Cave, upper layer: 2 right humeri.

MEASUREMENT (mm).—Humerus: length, 29.3.

COMPARATIVE MATERIAL.—Halcyon sancta, 14 USNM.

STATUS.—Extant, endemic subspecies of widespread species; fairly common in open country, scarcer in forests.

The following new species most closely resembles Tyto as opposed to the Strigidae in the following characters. Femur: absence of a deeply excavated popliteal fossa that sharply delimits the posterolateral border of the inner condyle; head proportionately small. Coracoid: pneumatic foramina on the head absent; procoracoid process expanded; dorsomedial sternal facet more strongly projecting dorsally, but short, extending only half the width of sternal end. The fossil form shows no similarity to Phodilus (which has a much larger head of the femur and a strangely reduced acrocoracoid area) except in the wide rotular groove. Although clearly referable to the Tytonidae, as opposed to the Strigidae, this species is so different from the species of Tyto for which skeletons are available, that it might eventually be placed in another genus. Comparison is desired with Tyto tenebricosa (Gould), a highly distinctive species of Australia and New Guinea, but unfortunately no skeletons of it have been preserved.