Fossil Birds from the Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation, Fayum Province, Egypt

Fossils from fluvial deposits of early Oligocene age in Egypt document the earliest known diverse avifauna from Africa, comprising at least 13 families and 18 species. Included are the oldest fossil records of the Musophagidae (turacos), Pandionidae (ospreys), Jacanidae (jacanas), and Balaenicipitidae (shoebilled storks). Other families represented are the Accipitridae (hawks and eagles), Rallidae (rails), Gruidae (cranes), Phoenicopteridae (flamingos), Ardeidae (herons), Ciconiidae (storks), and Phalacrocoracidae (cormorants). A highly distinctive rostrum is described as a new family, Xenerodiopidae, probably most closely related to herons. A humerus lacking the distal end is tentatively referred to the same family. Two new genera and three species of large to very large jacanas are described from the distal ends of tarsometatarsi. This Oligocene avifauna resembles that of modern tropical African assemblages. The habitat preferences of the constituent species of birds indicate a tropical, swampy, vegetation-choked, fresh-water environment at the time of deposition.