Cenozoic evolution of Eurasian anatids (Aves: Anatidae s. l.)
Borisiak Paleontological Institute, RAS
Profsoyuznaya, 123, Moscow, 117997 Russia
*e-mail: nzelen@paleo.ru
This paper represents an analysis of the Eurasian Cenozoic (late Eocene-Neogene) fossil record of anatids (Anatidae s.l.; including Romainvilliinae and Dendrocygninae). The evolutionary origin of Anatidae s. l. may be associated with the appearance of large shallow waterbodies in Asia during the Late Eocene as a result of the global sea level drop and consequent retreat of the epicontinental seas. Four major temporal stages in the evolution of the Cenozoic Eurasian anatids communities can be recognized, without any traceable continuity between particular stages (at the current stage of knowledge). Some recent anatids genera (for example, Tadorna) first appear in the paleontological record at the level of the early and middle Miocene (17–15 MA), but temperate faunas of essentially modern ecological composition became widespread only in the late Miocene (9–6 MA). Details of transitions between various faunistic stages as well as the origin of modern communities remain largely unstudied.
