Corvus harkanyensis Kessler, 2010

† Corvus harkanyensis Kessler, 2010

Location and age: Beremend 26; Lower Pliocene (MN15).

Material: 1 distal left humerus ( Figure 2 View FIGURE 2 /10), 1 proximal right scapula ( Figure 2 View FIGURE 2 /11).

Dimensions (in mm): humerus: F—13.3, G—5.5; scapula: B—5.8, C—5.1/4.2.

Previous records of the taxon—sites and their age: The holotype is from the Upper Pliocene ( MN15–16 ) of Csarnóta 2, with humerus dimensions: E—4.9, F—11.5, G—5.9, H—6.2. The dimensions of the modern species Corvus monedula are: humerus E—4.1–4.6, F—9.4–11.1, G—5.4–6.1, H—5.5–6.46. It was described as a species of crow of the size of a corvid species, in which the condylus ventralis on the distal epiphysis of the humerus is not ovate but rounded; the epicondylus ventralis is much wider and more iron-shaped; the processus flexorius is more prominent; processus supracondylaris dorsalis and epicondylus dorsalis lack the concave indentation present in the jackdaw ( Kessler 2010). The scapula is heavily damaged, but has crow-like features and its dimensions are similar to those of the jackdaw.

It takes its name from the nearby town of Harkány. This fossil species, with the characteristics and size of a modern jackdaw, may have been the ancestor of the present form of Corvus in the Carpathian Basin.

A small-sized Corvus species is known from the Upper Pliocene ( Corvus cf. monedula : Văršec Bulgaria, MN17 ( Boev 2000), which is the only small-sized species of the genus from the recent avifauna of Europe (although presently renamed as Coloeus monedula ). From the Early Pleistocene of the Stránská scale in the Czech Republic, Corvus moravicus Mlíkovsk ỳ, 1995 was described as an extinct taxon, but this species was later revised by the author himself and the material was assigned to the modern jackdaw ( C. monedula Linnaeus, 1758 ) (Mlíkovskỳ 2002). The latter species has also been identified from several Lower, Middle and Upper Pleistocene sites ( Jánossy 1979a,b; Gál 2002). Apart from the species of Corvidae mentioned above, only Miocene finds from North America have been described; Olson and Rasmussen (2001) reported the taxon Corvus aff. ossifragus Wilson, 1812 from the Lee Creek Mine site, based on a tibiotarsus.

Comparative material: Corvus monedula (61.9.1); Pica pica (58.I.17); Garrulus glandarius (48.VIII.24); Nucifraga caryocatactes (71.10.27).

This material is not catalogued, it belongs to the Chapel of Reconciliation in Beremend and will be catalogued in their collection.