Tetraonidae VIGORS, 1825 (Galliformes - Aves) in the Neogene-Quaternary record of Bulgaria and the origin and evolution of the family

Received: 11 Sep., 2001 Accepted for publication: 17 Dec., 2001 BOEV Z. 2002. Tetraonidae VIGORS, 1825 (Galliformes - Aves) in the Neogene- Quaternary record of Bulgaria and the origin and evolution of the family. In: Proceedings of the 4th Meeting of the ICAZ Bird Working Group Krakow, Poland, 11-15 September, 2001. Acta zoologica cracoviensia, 45(special issue): 263-282. Abstract. Bulgaria has a very diversified avifauna of fossil and subfossil Tetraonidae, con- sisting of at least 9 species. This avifauna is represented by 525 bone finds from 27 avian localities in Bulgaria: 3 Pliocene, 11 Pleistocene and 13 Holocene. The Tetraonidae probably first appeared in the savana-forest habitats of the Western Palearctic at the tran- sition between the Pontian and the Ruscinian. The genus Tetrao first appears in the Bal- kans and Europe during the Early Pliocene (MN 14), while the earliest record of Lagopus is in MN 15. Four of the nine Tetraonid species in Bulgaria are fossil species: Lagopus atavus JANOSSY, 1974, Lagopus balcanicus BOEV, 1995, Tetrao partium (KRETZOI, 1962) and Tetrao rhodopensis BOEV, 1998. Three recent species in the fossil record have since disappeared from the avifauna of the country: Lagopus lagopus (LINNAEUS, 1758), Lagopus mutus (MONTIN, 1776) and Tetrao tetrix LINNAEUS, 1758.