Osteometric data of Avian Fauna of Armenia: A baseline for zoologists and archaeozoologists

Abstract

Modern bird skeletons stored in the faunal collections of the Institute of Zoology of the Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology NAS Armenia constitute a source material for this dataset. The osteological material in the scientific collections has been accumulated in the course of faunal studies in Armenia over the span of 60 years. The osteometric dataset sheds light on the country's species diversity and includes cranial and postcranial measurements (carpometacarpus, humerus, tibia, femur, tarsometatarsus, radius and ulna) of 141 bird skeletons which belong to 81 bird species, 34 families and 17 orders.Bird skeletons have been collected by means of specimen collection from the wild for scientific study prior to 1990s when the practice was common and recovered opportunistically after 1990s from birds found dead through natural causes and incidents.Recent bird skeletons (bones) serve as a unique comparative resource for zoological research and for identifying bird bones recovered from archaeological and natural deposits.