Struthio karatheodoris Forsyth Major 1888
Creators: name: Boev, Zlatozar
name: Spassov, Nikolaï
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Aves
Struthioniformes
Struthionidae
Struthio
Struthio karatheodoris

description: Struthio cf. karatheodoris Forsyth Major, 1888   
TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotypefemur, from Samos 1. Said to be in the Barbey collection (Lambrecht 1933: 100); present location unknown (Mlíkovský 2002).  
TYPE HORIZON. — Late Miocene (MN 11) (Mlíkovský 2002).  
TYPE LOCALITY. — Samos 1, Samos Island (southeastern Greece).  
 NEW DIAGNOSIS. — Fossil late Miocene ostrich of large size, only smallerthan S. novorossicus, more bipedal, with better developed fourth toe; more robust pedal phal. in comparison to S. camelus.   
 OTHER MATERIALEXAMINED. — Kalimantsi:tmt. dex. dist. (epiphysis, completearticular end) ad., NMNHS 16371 (Fig. 2); fromthe middle Turolian of the fossiliferous area near Kalimantsi village (Blagoevgrard Region, 43.17’N, 27.44’E; UTM grid: NH 59; c. 300 m a.s.l.). — Hadzhidimovo: phal. 1 dig. 3 ped. sin. (almost complete) ad., NMNHS 16372 (Fig. 2); from the base of the middle Turolian or the early-middle Turolian boundary at Tumbichkite (HD-2), near the town of Hadzhidimovo (Blagoevgrard Region, 41.30’N, 23.52’E; UTM grid: GM 30; 500 m a.s.l.). Both sites represent the richest Bulgarian localities of the so-called “ Hipparion -fauna”. The two specimens are morphometrically similar to each other, and theirrelatively closechronostratigraphic position indicates that they are referrable to the same fossil species.   
Both specimens were collected in the 1980’s by D. Kovachev.  
 LOCALITIES. — Thefossiliferous area around Kalimantsi village in the Middle Struma basin covers a large region (c. 6 km 2) of late Miocene depositsincluding more than 10 known fossil mammal localities (labelled KM sites). Recentbiostratigraphicrevisiondemonstrates thatall KM sites are of Turolian age. KM-1, belonging to the newly established Gradishte lithocomplex, is likely to yield a fauna of early Turolian age, while other KM faunas (referred to the Strumyani Genetic Lithocomplex) are consideredto belong tothe middle Turolian (Tzankov et al. 2005; Spassov et al. 2006). Themiddle Turolianfauna of KM is presented by c. 10 different localities, which are faunally dominated by Gazella sp., Cremohipparion mediterraneum (Roth & Wagner, 1855) and Hippotherium brachypus (Hensel, 1862), and which also contain Tragoportax cf. amalthea, Palaeoreas lindermayeri (Wagner, 1848), Helladotherium duvernoyi (Gaudry & Lartet, 1856), Bohlinia attica (Gaudry & Lartet, 1856), Adcrocuta eximia (Roth & Wagner, 1854), Mesopithecus pentelicus Wagner, 1839, andother species (Spassov et al. 2006). NMNHS 16371 comes from horizons of middle Turolian age and is probably slightly younger than NMNHS 16372.   
 Hadzhidimovo is a late Miocene site with three fossil vertebrate localities: HD-1, HD-2 (Tumbichkite) and HD-3. The main locality, HD-1 (from which more than 30 mammal species have been reported), is dated to the MN 11/12 boundary (Spassov 2002). The other two localities could be of slightly different age; HD-2 is several tensof metres higher thanthe level of HD-1. The fauna of the locality consists of Gazella sp., Palaeoreas lindermayeri, Tragoportax rugosifrons (Schlosser, 1904), Helladotherium duvernoyi, Hipparion / Cremohipparion spp. (probably H. brachypus and C. mediterraneum), Ancylotherium pentelicum (Gaudry & Lartet, 1856), Deinotherium gigantissimum Stefanescu,1892 and Choerolophodonpentelici (Gaudry & Lartet, 1856). Theoccurrence of P. lindermayeri and C. pentelici further suggeststhat HD-2 is younger than HD-1 (Geraads et al. 2003; Markov 2004).
description: Published as part of Boev, Zlatozar & Spassov, Nikolaï, 2009, First record of ostriches (Aves, Struthioniformes, Struthionidae) from the late Miocene of Bulgaria with taxonomic and zoogeographic discussion, pp. 493-507 in Geodiversitas 31 (3) on pages 498-500, DOI: 10.5252/g2009n3a1, http://zenodo.org/record/10111340