Two New Species of <i>Aegialornis</i> from France, with Comments on the Ordinal Affinities of the Aegialornithidae

Abstract

Collections from the upper Eocene-lower Oligocene phosphorite deposits of Quercy, France, include numerous fossil elements attributed to two species of <i>Aegialornis</i>. An examination of the humeri in this series disclosed the presence of two unrecgonized species, which are newly described here as <i>Aegialornis wetmorei</i> and <i>A. broweri</i>. Preliminary study of the other skeletal elements previously assigned to <i>Aegialornis</i> indicates that at least some of them are probably referable to the Charadriiformes and the Coraciiformes. The humeri of <i>Aegialornis</i> show closer similarity to <i>Chordeiles</i> than to any members of the Hemiprocnidae or Apodidae, and, therefore, the Aegialornithidae is removed from the Apodiformes and placed in the Caprimulgiformes near the Caprimulgidae.