Presence of Ciconia maltha (Aves, Ciconiidae) in the Lower-Middle Pleistocene of the Tarija Valley, Bolivia.

Abstract

An incomplete tarsometatarsus of a fossil Ciconiidae is here described. It comes from the Tarija Formation(Lower-Middle Pleistocene) of Bolivia. It is assigned to the large extinct species Ciconia maltha, recorded in the Mid-Late Pleistocene of North and Central America. The material here reported represents the first fossil record for Ciconia maltha in South America, and the fi rst for the family Ciconiidae in Bolivia.