Late Pleistocene songbirds of Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia); the first fossil passerine fauna described from Wallacea

Hanneke J M Meijer; Rokus Awe Due; Thomas Sutikna; Wahyu Saptomo; Jatmiko; Sri Wasisto; Matthew W Tocheri; Gerald Mayr

doi:10.7717/peerj.3676

Late Pleistocene songbirds of Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia); the first fossil passerine fauna described from Wallacea

PeerJ. 2017 Aug 17:5:e3676. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3676. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Hanneke J M Meijer^{1

2}, Rokus Awe Due³, Thomas Sutikna^{3

4}, Wahyu Saptomo³, Jatmiko³, Sri Wasisto³, Matthew W Tocheri^{2

5}, Gerald Mayr⁶

Affiliations

¹ University Museum of Bergen, Department of Natural History, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
² Human Origins Program, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America.
³ Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia.
⁴ Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
⁵ Department of Anthropology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Canada.
⁶ Ornithological Section, Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Abstract

Background: Passerines (Aves: Passeriformes) dominate modern terrestrial bird communities yet their fossil record is limited. Liang Bua is a large cave on the Indonesian island of Flores that preserves Late Pleistocene-Holocene deposits (∼190 ka to present day). Birds are the most diverse faunal group at Liang Bua and are present throughout the stratigraphic sequence.

Methods: We examined avian remains from the Late Pleistocene deposits of Sector XII, a 2 × 2 m area excavated to about 8.5 m depth. Although postcranial passerine remains are typically challenging to identify, we found several humeral characters particularly useful in discriminating between groups, and identified 89 skeletal elements of passerines.

Results: At least eight species from eight families are represented, including the Large-billed Crow (Corvus cf. macrorhynchos), the Australasian Bushlark (Mirafra javanica), a friarbird (Philemon sp.), and the Pechora Pipit (Anthus cf. gustavi).

Discussion: These remains constitute the first sample of fossil passerines described in Wallacea. Two of the taxa no longer occur on Flores today; a large sturnid (cf. Acridotheres) and a grassbird (Megalurus sp.). Palaeoecologically, the songbird assemblage suggests open grassland and tall forests, which is consistent with conditions inferred from the non-passerine fauna at the site. Corvus cf. macrorhynchos, found in the Homo floresiensis-bearing layers, was likely part of a scavenging guild that fed on carcasses of Stegodon florensis insularis alongside vultures (Trigonoceps sp.), giant storks (Leptoptilos robustus), komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis), and probably H. floresiensis as well.

Keywords: Aves; Avifauna; Passeriformes; Passerines; Southeast Asia; Wallacea.

Grants and funding

HJMM was supported by an Alexander von Humboldt Experienced Researcher Fellowship, TS by a UOW postgraduate scholarship, and MWT by a Canada Research Chair. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.