A Shelduck (Anatidae: Tadorna) from the Pliocene of South Australia

Abstract

SummaryA complete fossil humerus referable to a shelduck (Anatidae: Tadorna sp.) is reported from an uncertain locality in the ‘Bookmark cliffs’ on the River Murray, a few kilometres upstream from Berri and Lyrup southwest of Renmark, in the Riverland region of South Australia. The fossil was embedded in a piece of pale grey, clean coarse sandstone having a siliceous cement. This is interpreted as being Parilla Sand, of late Pliocene age, which outcrops along the Murray River from Renmark to Loxton.