Catalogue of Fossil Birds. Part 4 (Columbiformes through Piciformes)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58782/flmnh.djhf9531Abstract
The fourth installment of the Catalogue of Fossil Birds includes 11 orders and 36 families, from the sandgrouse through the woodpeckers in the Wetmorean system. The four parts now published have treated the fossil record of all but one of the orders of birds (Passeriformes). They cover 132 families (38 extinct and 94 living), 744 genera (404 paleogenera and 340 neogenera), and 1,522 species (898 paleospecies and 624 neospecies).
The following are proposed new taxa of fossil birds: family Zygodactylidae for Zygodactylus Ballmann in order Piciformes; subfamily Apopempsidae and genus Apopempsis for Musophaga meini Ballmann in family Musophagidae, genus Eostrix for Protostrix mimica Wetmore in family Protostrigidae.
Aegialornis leehnardti Gaillard is emended to Aegialornis leenhardti, as the specific name honors Prof. F. Leenhardt of the University of Toulouse.
In the linear sequence the Cuculiformes precede the Psittaciformes to bring the parrots next to the owls, with which they share many characteristics.
On grounds of priority the following subfamily names replace those in Peters' Check-List: Ptilinopinae (Selby, 1835) for Treroninae Gray, 1840; Coccyginae (Swainson, 1837) for Phaenicophaeinae (Gray, 1840); Geococcyginae (Reichenow, 1882) fo Neomorphinae Shelley, 1891, Atelornithinae Bonaparte, 1854, for Brachypteraciinae Sharpe, 1892.
