Fossil Flamingo (Phoenicopteriformes) from the Miocene (Hemingfordian) of Southern California, USA.

Previously, the earliest fossils of flamingos in North America referable to modern taxa were known from the late Miocene (Clarendonian and Hemphillian). The recovery of a distal tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus morphologically similar to the modern genera, Phoenicopterus and Phoenicoparrus, from early Miocene (Hemingfordian) deposits in Southern California greatly extends the chronological age for the appearance of modern flamingos. The fossils were recovered from sediments associated with borate (evaporite) deposits, thus suggesting that the earliest member of the modern flamingo lineage was associated with the same type of habitat used by its modern relatives. The best-known members of the Phoenicopteriformes in the Miocene, the extinct Palaelodidae, are only associated with fresh-water deposits so were ecologically quite distinct from the modern flamingos at this time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]