Referred Material.—Abraded distal end of left humerus and associated proximal portion of humeral shaft, proximal end of radius, and fragment of shaft of ulna, NJSM 11302.
Locality and Horizon.—Collected from the main fossiliferous layer of the Inversand Company marl pit, Sewell, Gloucester County, New Jersey; Hornerstown Formation, latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian); collected 15 August 1972 by David C. Parris.
Measurements (in mm).—Humerus: distal width 19 mm, depth through dorsal condyle 9.7, width of shaft at proximal extent of brachial fossa 11.0; greatest proximal diameter of radius 7.0.
Comparisons.—The distal end of the humerus is the only reasonably diagnostic element in this assortment and indicates a large, robust species that would have exceeded in size any of the others known in this Cretaceous avifauna except Laornis edvardsianus, which was much larger still. In size this bird would have approximated the modern flamingo Phoeniconaias minor, which it somewhat resembles in morphology as well. The humerus is not greatly different from that of other Graculavidae in general aspect but is distinct in having a larger, much deeper, and more proximally situated brachial depression. It represents a species distinct from any of the others yet known in the fauna and is certainly generically distinct from all except possibly Graculavus, for which comparable elements are unknown.
Order Procellariiformes?
Among the newly collected material from the Inversand pit is a singular avian humerus that cannot be assigned to the Graculavidae or to any other known family, fossil or modern. Although it is generally inadvisable to name even Paleogene birds on single elements, to say nothing of Cretaceous ones, the specimen under consideration here is superior to any of the other avian fossils yet collected from the Cretaceous of New Jersey, both in preservation and in diagnostic qualities, and it would seem incongruous to leave it innominate when practically all the other fragments from the same deposits have received names.
Figure 9.—Miscellaneous elements, a, Palaeotringa littoralis? (NJSM 11303), distal end of left humerus, palmar view; b, Graculavidae, genus and species indeterminate (NJSM 11302), distal end of left humerus, palmar view; c, proximal end of radius associated with b; d, Graculavus velox? (NJSM 11854), right carpometacarpus; e,f, Procellariiformes?, genus and species indeterminate (ANSP 15713), distal end of left ulna (e, external view;/dorsal view); g, Aves, incertae sedis (NJSM 12119), distal end of left femur, posterior view. (a,b,c,d, × 2; e,f,g, × 5; specimens coated with ammonium chloride to enhance detail.)
The most distinctive features of this specimen are the deep brachial depression and the incipient ectepicondylar spur, thus calling to mind both the Lari (Charadriiformes) and the Procellariiformes among modern birds. Among the Pelecaniformes it also bears a resemblance to the Phaethontidae and especially to the Eocene frigatebird Limnofregata (Fregatidae) (Olson, 1977).