A NEW SPECIES OF SANDGROUSE (AVES: PTEROCLIDAE) FROM THE EARLY PLEISTOCENE OF CRIMEA
Journal: Доклады Российской академии наук Науки о жизни
Year: 2023

Sandgrouse (Pteroclidae; Pterocliformes) are specialized ground birds of open arid landscapes with a very poorly studied evolutionary history. In the late Pliocene – early Pleistocene, Pteroclidae are known only from few localities in Southern Europe. The article describes a relatively large fossil sandgrouse from the early Pleistocene of the Taurida cave in the Crimea – this is the first finding of Pteroclidae in the ancient faunas of the Black Sea region and Eastern Europe. The unusual structu