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Out of Africa: Fossils shed light on the origin of the hoatzin, an iconic Neotropic bird

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Abstract

We describe the earliest fossils of the enigmatic avian taxon Opisthocomiformes (hoatzins) from the Oligo-Miocene (22–24 mya) of Brazil. The bones, a humerus, scapula and coracoid, closely resemble those of the extant hoatzin, Opisthocomus hoazin. The very similar osteology of the pectoral girdle in the new Brazilian fossil compared to the extant O. hoazin, in which it reflects peculiar feeding adaptations, may indicate that hoatzins had already evolved their highly specialized feeding behavior by the mid-Cenozoic. We further show that Namibiavis senutae from the early Miocene of Namibia is another, previously misclassified representative of Opisthocomiformes, which documents that the extant Neotropic distribution of hoatzins is relictual. Because of the weak flight capabilities of hoatzins, their occurrence on both sides of the South Atlantic is of particular biogeographic interest. We detail that this distribution pattern is best explained by dispersal from Africa to South America, and that Opisthocomiformes provide the first example of transatlantic rafting among birds.

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Acknowledgements

We thank B. Senut and M. Pickford for enabling study of the Namibiavis material. The photos were taken by G. Couto-Ribeiro (Hoazinavis and juvenile Opisthocomus), D. Serrette and Ph. Loubry (Namibiavis), and S. Tränkner (adult Opisthocomus). The manuscript benefited from comments of four anonymous referees. The English was improved by corrections from T. Worthy. R. Blakey is acknowledged for permission to reproduce one of his palaeomap reconstructions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Sektion Ornithologie, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Gerald Mayr

  2. Museu de História Natural de Taubaté, Rua Juvenal Dias de Carvalho 111, CEP 12070-640, Taubaté, SP, Brazil

    Herculano Alvarenga

  3. Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5276, 2 rue Dubois, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Cécile Mourer-Chauviré

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  1. Gerald Mayr
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  2. Herculano Alvarenga
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  3. Cécile Mourer-Chauviré
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Correspondence to Gerald Mayr.

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Communicated by: Sven Thatje

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Mayr, G., Alvarenga, H. & Mourer-Chauviré, C. Out of Africa: Fossils shed light on the origin of the hoatzin, an iconic Neotropic bird. Naturwissenschaften 98, 961 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-011-0849-1

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