Macranhinga is a genus of extinct darters belonging to the Anhingidae. The type species is M. paranensis, which was described on the basis of complete tarsometatarsi and several dissociated skeletal elements. All the specimens come from the Ituzaingó Formation that crops out discontinuously along the eastern cliffs of the Paraná River in northeastern Argentina, the river from which the specific epithet is derived.[2] The most striking feature of this bird is its large size, much greater than in all other known fossil or extant anhingas.[1]

Macranhinga
Temporal range: Late Miocene (Huayquerian)
~9–7.3 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Suliformes
Family: Anhingidae
Genus: Macranhinga
Noriega, 1992
Type species
Macaranhinga paranensis
Noriega 1992
Species
  • M. paranensis Noriega 1992[1]
  • M. ranzii Alvarenga & Guilherme 2003

A second species, M. ranzii was described from the Solimões Formation in Acre, Amazonian Brazil,[3] and this species was later found in the Ituzaingó Formation.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b Noriega, 2001, p.248
  2. ^ Noriega & Agnolín, 2008, p.275
  3. ^ Cozzuol, 2006
  4. ^ Noriega & Agnolín, 2008, p.277

Bibliography

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  • Cozzuol, M.A (2006), "The Acre vertebrate fauna: Age, diversity, and geography", Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 21 (3): 185–203, Bibcode:2006JSAES..21..185C, doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2006.03.005, retrieved 2019-03-07
  • Noriega, Jorge I.; Agnolin, Federico L. (2008), "El registro paleontológico de las Aves del "Mesopotamiense" (Formación Ituzaingó; Mioceno tardío-Plioceno) de la provincia de Entre Ríos, Argentina (Mioceno Superior) de Argentina" (PDF), Temas de la Biodiversidad del Litoral III, 17: 271–290, retrieved 2018-10-08
  • Noriega, Jorge Ignacio (2001), "Body mass estimation and locomotion of the Miocene pelecaniform bird Macranhinga" (PDF), Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 46 (2): 247–260, retrieved 2019-03-07