The presence of Harlequin duck Histrionicus histrionicus (Linnaeus 1758) in the Middle Pleistocene of Italy

Abstract

A nearly complete coracoid of Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus (Linnaeus 1758) is described from the Middle Pleistocene of Casal Selce (Rome, Central Italy). The fossil specimen is very well preserved and its morphology and dimensions are perfectly compatible with those of modern Harlequin Duck, and differ from other candidate diving ducks. This record represents the first European fossil of this species, previously recorded as fossil only in North America, and one of the few European documented records of wild-origin bird outside Iceland, where the species is sedentary. © 2013 Dt. Ornithologen-Gesellschaft e.V.