The Palaeogene Diomedeoididae are amongst the earliest representatives of procellariiform birds (albatrosses, tubenoses, and allies). Although several fossils of these birds have been reported in the past, many details of their osteology remained unknown. Here we describe a comprehensive collection of diomedeoidid fossils from the Rupelian stratotype in Belgium, which was found more than 100 years ago. The material includes all major limb elements as well as other cranial and postcranial bones, and allows the recognition of previously unknown features of phylogenetic significance. Based on these new osteological data, diomedeoidids were for the first time subjected to a phylogenetic analysis, which resulted in a position outside a clade including Hydrobatidae (northern storm-petrels), Pelecanoididae (diving-petrels), and Procellariidae (fulmars, petrels, shearwaters, and allies), either as the sister taxon of Diomedeidae (albatrosses) or as that of all crown group Procellariiformes. The latter placement is better supported by the osteological evidence, and diomedeoidids lack several apomorphies of crown group Procellariiformes. Previously unrecognized derived features are reported that support a monophyletic Hydrobatidae, thus contradicting recent proposals that Oceanitinae (southern storm-petrels) are the earliest diverging crown group Procellariiformes. The new fossils also have a bearing on the convoluted taxonomy of diomedeoidids, and Diomedeoides Fischer, 1985 is synonymized with Rupelornis van Beneden, 1871. Diomedeoides lipsiensis (Fischer, 1983) is synonymous with Rupelornis definitus (van Beneden, 1871), a species that exhibits a large size range.
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The genus Olbitherium was originally described in 2004 from the early Eocene of the Wutu Formation in China as a ‘perissodactyl-like’ archaic ungulate. Described material of Olbitherium consists of partial dentaries with lower cheek teeth, isolated upper molars, and an isolated upper premolar. Subsequent collaborative fieldwork by Belgian and Chinese researchers discovered new material including a partial skull, the anterior portion of the dentary, and associated postcrania. In their general form, the skull and postcrania are similar to those of early perissodactyls. The new material provides a more complete picture of the upper dentition, and the anterior dentary demonstrates the presence of three lower incisors and a large canine, both ancestral features for perissodactyls. A phylogenetic analysis was conducted to test the affinities of Olbitherium, using a matrix of 321 characters and 72 taxa of placental mammals emphasizing perissodactyls and other ungulates. The results produced four shortest trees of 1981 steps. In all four trees, Olbitherium is the sister-taxon to all perissodactyls except Ghazijhippus. In contrast, when scoring was restricted to the originally described material, the results produced 16 shortest trees of 1970 steps, and Olbitherium nests well within Perissodactyla as sister-taxon to a clade including Lambdotherium and the brontotheriids Eotitanops and Palaeosyops. The new material not only supports the identification of Olbitherium as a perissodactyl, but it also suggests that it is significant for understanding the ancestral perissodactyl morphotype. Funding Sources U.S. National Science Foundation (DEB1456826), Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (2009DFA32210), and Belgian Science Policy Office (BL/36/C54).
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020
