Cuculus csarnotanus Jánossy, 1979

† Cuculus csarnotanus Jánossy, 1979 (in Jánossy 1979b)

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

Material: 1 complete left tarsometatarsus ( Figure 2 View FIGURE 2 /8).

Dimensions (in mm): tarsometatarsus: A—14.1, C—4.0, D—3.7, E—2.0, F—4.3, G—2.4.

Previous records of the taxon—sites and their age: the fossil species was originally described from a distal epiphysis of a humerus (MTM. Vt.80) smaller in size but morphologically similar to the European cuckoo from the Early Pliocene ( MN 15) site Csarnóta 2, near Beremend ( Jánossy 1979b).

A distal ulna ( MÁFI V.09.341.1) from the Late Miocene of Polgárdi 4 ( MN 13), and a distal humerus (MTM V.2009.51.1) from the Late Pliocene of Beremend 15 ( MN 16), the holotype, were described as † Cuculus pannonicus Kessler, 2010 ( Kessler 2010, 2013a). Nikita Zelenkov wrote in a 2017 article that “This ulna cannot be referred to a cuckoo, since its tuberculum carpale is set strongly aside relative to the shaft and the proximal apex of its condylus ventralis [is] shifted ventrally; in these characters and general outline, this bone is similar to those of Charadriiformes ”, p. 210. Therefore, he identified it as Scolopacidae fam. indet. ( Zelenkov 2017).

The size of the characteristic cuckoo skeletal parts exceeds that of the recent species and far exceeds that of the fossil species from Csarnóta, but no tarsometatarsus occurs among any of the materials. A specimen of this family is already known from the Middle Miocene of Mátraszőlős 1, from where it was identified as Cuculidae gen. et sp., based on unidentified material of Passeriformes indet. from Gál et al. (1999; this fossil was identified in 1998), which was not further defined.

The genus is unknown from the Neogene of Europe. The earliest fossil species assigned to the taxon is Chambicuculus pusillus Mourer-Chauviré et al., 2013 , which dates from the late Early to early Middle Eocene in Tunisia. This very small bird is known from several isolated tarsometatarsi as well as a referred coracoid and femur ( Mourer-Chauviré et al. 2013, 2016). These bones show a close resemblance to the corresponding elements of extant species of Cuculiformes , with the tarsometatarsus bearing a large accessory trochlea for the fourth toe ( Mayr 2022).

Outside the Carpathian Basin, the recent species is known from the Lower Pleistocene of Spain (Quibas, Q1) and the Czech Republic (Stránská scale, Q2). Thus, the Carpathian Basin material is unique from this age in Europe. The order Cuculiformes is possibly represented from the Eocene through the species † Parvicuculus minor Harrison & Walker, 1977 , which was described from a tarsometatarsus from the Burnham-on-Crouch ( MP 8–9, London Clay) site in England ( Harrison & Walker 1977; Harrison 1982) and from the Condé-en Brie ( MP 8–9) site in France (Mayr & Mourer Chauviré 2005). Apart from these, only North American and European Pleistocene-age fossils are known.

Comparative material: Cuculus canorus (2010.418.1).

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