In what is one of the most important international paleontological findings of recent yearsA team of Argentine scientists I found the Fossil remains of a thousand-year-old pelican that, according to what they said, is the first discovered in Argentina and the southernmost in the world ever recorded so far.
As the researchers explained, among the fossil remains of this nine species of pelican, which they baptized “Pelecanus paranensis” and that they were found in the marine sediments of the Paraná Formationmore precisely in the mediations of the city of Victoria, Entre Riosthere was a pelvic girdle that was almost complete and in perfect conditionwhich greatly caught their attention, since, according to their calculations, it has a antiquity that oscillates between 7 and the 10,000,000 years.
“The characteristics of the specimen allow it to be located as close to the representatives of New World pelicanswhich supposes a transatlantic route in the dispersal of these birds from the The old world (Eurasia/Africa) to America”, commented the Conicet researcher and first author of the work, Jorge Noriega, in dialogue with the program “First Morning” that is broadcast on LT9 AM 1150 from Santa Fe.
“In this context, finding a pelican, although as the news marks it, the first found in ArgentinaIt is not a rare thing, together with those pelicans we have already studied whales, seals, sea cows, sharks and fish. There is a infinity of vertebrate fauna associated with that sea, which was called the Paranaense Sea, which, little by little, is being rebuilt,” added the specialist.
For his part, Diego Brandoni, Conictet researcher and co-author of the findingexplained that the study of Pelecanus paranensis is part of a project financed by the Conicet whose central objective is to be able to determine the diversity of fossil vertebrates from the Neogene of the Mesopotamian Region.
“The record of Pelecanus paranensis adds to a series of new findings, among which stand out new specimens of crocodiles, amphibians and fishthose who increase the diversity of fossil vertebrates for the region”, concluded the Argentine scientist.
Both the investigation and the subsequent report that was published in J magazinevertebrate paleontology journalwere made by Conicet professionals at the Center for Scientific Research and Technology Transfer to Production (Cicyttp, Conicet-Entre Ríos-Uader) and the National University of La Plata (UNLP), together with a scientist from the Félix de Azara Natural History Foundation of the Maimonides University.
