Notes on a Skeleton of the Musk-Duck, Biziura lobata, with Special Reference to Skeletal Characters evolved in relation to the Diving Habits of this Bird

Publication Type:Journal Article
Year of Publication:1975
Authors:Goodhart, CB, Gulick, JThomas, Pycraft, WP
Journal:Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
Volume:57
Pagination:349-356
Date Published:1975
ISBN Number:1096-3642
Keywords:Hyaena hyaena
Abstract:

A recent suggestion that the visual resemblance of the Aardwolf to the Striped Hyena may have been evolved as Batesian mimicry is critically examined. But the fact that the close similarity in appearance (apart from size) between these two species appears to be just as good in southern Africa, where the Striped Hyena does not occur, being replaced by the Brown Hyena which does not look much like an aardwolf, argues against the mimicry hypothesis. It seems more likely that the resemblance is due simply to close phylogenetic relationship, both species having retained the cryptic coloration of a common ancestor, together with its erectile dorsal crest, used for threat display as in many other mammals.Summary. Unfortunately the Erismaturinæ are represented in the National Collection, in so far as skeletons are concerned, only by a single specimen each of Erismatura jamaicensis and E. vittata and a sternum of Nomonyx. This fact, and the still immature condition of the skull in the skeleton of Biziura now under consideration, makes any generalization as to the affinities of Biziura, as indicated by osteological characters, a matter of difficulty. The genera Erismatura, Thalassiornis, Nomonyx, and Biziura have been placed together by Count Salvadori (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. vol. xxvii.) in a separate subfamily—the Erismaturinæ. This he places between the Fuligulinæ on the one hand, and the Merganettinæ and Merginæ on the other. The osteological characters of these groups certainly do not seem to bear out this classification. The Erismaturinæ should be merged in the Fuligulinæ, since they are undoubtedly closely allied to the genera Aythya, and Fuligula, and more distantly to Clangula. On the other hand, the genera Tachyeres, Harelda, Histrionicus, ædemia, Heniconetta, Somateria, and Erionetta might well be placed together in a separate subfamily—the Somateriinæ. They have much in common, and are quite distinct from the Fuligulinæ. It is open to question whether the Merganettinæ should be separated from the Merginæ. Biziura is primitive in some respects, in the skull for example, and highly specialized in others, as in the form of the pelvis and of the hypapophyses of the vertebræ. The remarkable gular pouch of this bird was figured and described by Forbes (P. Z. S. 1882).

URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1906.tb00439.x
Taxonomic name: 
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