Zahoor-Salmi
Moorhen
Still older fossils document the genus since the Late Oligocene onwards. The genus seems to have originated in the Southern Hemisphere, in the general region of Australia. By the Pliocene, it was probably distributed worldwide:
Gallinula sp. (Early Pliocene of Hungary and Germany)
Gallinula kansarum (Late Pliocene of Kansas, USA)
Gallinula balcanica (Late Pliocene of Varshets, Bulgaria).
Gallinula gigantea (Early Pleistocene of Czech Republic and Israel)
The ancient "Gallinula" disneyi (Late Oligocene—Early Miocene of Riversleigh, Australia) has been separated as genus Australlus.
Even among non-Passeriformes, this genus has a long documented existence. Consequently, some unassigned fragmentary rail fossils might also be from moor- or native-hens. For example, specimen QM F30696, a left distal tibiotarsus piece from the Oligo-Miocene boundary at Riversleigh, is similar to but than and differs in details from "G." disneyi. It cannot be said if this bird—if a distinct species—was flightless. From size alone, it might have been an ancestor of G. mortierii (see also below).
In addition to paleosubspecies of Gallinula chloropus, the doubtfully distinct Late Pliocene to Pleistocene Gallinula mortierii reperta was described, referring to the population of the Tasmanian native-hen that once inhabited mainland Australia and became extinct at the end of the last ice age.[6] It may be that apart from climate change it was driven to extinction by the introduction of the dingo, which as opposed to the marsupial predators hunted during the day, but this would require a survival of mainland Gallinula mortierii to as late as about 1500 BC.
"G." disneyi was yet another flightless native-hen, indicative of that group's rather basal position among moorhens. Its time and place of occurrence suggest it as an ancestor of G. mortierii (reperta), from which it differed mostly in its much smaller size. However, some limb bone proportions are also strikingly different, and in any case such a scenario would require a flightless bird to change but little during some 20 million years in an environment rich in predators. As the fossils of G. disneyi as well as the rich recent and subfossil material of G. mortierii shows no evidence of such a change at all, "G." disneyi more probably represents a case of parallel evolution at an earlier date, as signified by its placement in Australlus.
Moorhen
Still older fossils document the genus since the Late Oligocene onwards. The genus seems to have originated in the Southern Hemisphere, in the general region of Australia. By the Pliocene, it was probably distributed worldwide:
Gallinula sp. (Early Pliocene of Hungary and Germany)
Gallinula kansarum (Late Pliocene of Kansas, USA)
Gallinula balcanica (Late Pliocene of Varshets, Bulgaria).
Gallinula gigantea (Early Pleistocene of Czech Republic and Israel)
The ancient "Gallinula" disneyi (Late Oligocene—Early Miocene of Riversleigh, Australia) has been separated as genus Australlus.
Even among non-Passeriformes, this genus has a long documented existence. Consequently, some unassigned fragmentary rail fossils might also be from moor- or native-hens. For example, specimen QM F30696, a left distal tibiotarsus piece from the Oligo-Miocene boundary at Riversleigh, is similar to but than and differs in details from "G." disneyi. It cannot be said if this bird—if a distinct species—was flightless. From size alone, it might have been an ancestor of G. mortierii (see also below).
In addition to paleosubspecies of Gallinula chloropus, the doubtfully distinct Late Pliocene to Pleistocene Gallinula mortierii reperta was described, referring to the population of the Tasmanian native-hen that once inhabited mainland Australia and became extinct at the end of the last ice age.[6] It may be that apart from climate change it was driven to extinction by the introduction of the dingo, which as opposed to the marsupial predators hunted during the day, but this would require a survival of mainland Gallinula mortierii to as late as about 1500 BC.
"G." disneyi was yet another flightless native-hen, indicative of that group's rather basal position among moorhens. Its time and place of occurrence suggest it as an ancestor of G. mortierii (reperta), from which it differed mostly in its much smaller size. However, some limb bone proportions are also strikingly different, and in any case such a scenario would require a flightless bird to change but little during some 20 million years in an environment rich in predators. As the fossils of G. disneyi as well as the rich recent and subfossil material of G. mortierii shows no evidence of such a change at all, "G." disneyi more probably represents a case of parallel evolution at an earlier date, as signified by its placement in Australlus.