Revision of "falco" Ramenta Wetmore and the Neogene Evolution of the Falconidae

--"Falco" ramenta Wetmore 1936 is redescribed and moved to a new genus as Pedlofiierax ramenta (Wetmore). In addition to the holotypical distal end of the tarsometatarsus, this species is now known from a complete tarsometatarsus, humerus, and coracoid from mid-Miocene (Late Hemingfordian and Early Barstovian) fossil localities in the Sheep Creek and Olcott formations, northwestern Nebraska. Pediolfferax n. gen. is the primitive sister group of the Falconinae. The earliest fossil records now known of the Falconinae are a species of ?Falco from the late Miocene of Idaho and Falco medius from the late Miocene of the Ukrainian S.S.R. Received 5 June 1986, accepted 4 November 1986. WETMORE (1936) described "Falco" ramenta based on the distal end of a single right tarsometatarsus from a mid-Miocene locality in Nebraska. The holotype of this species apparently was compared only with Falco columbarius and F. sparverius, and differed from the former in having the distal vascular foramen of the tarsometatarsus more elevated on the shaft in posterior view (Wetmore 1936). The incomplete, minimally diagnostic nature of the holotype has since caused the systematic position and validity of this species to be questioned (Jollie 1977). ! describe here new material from correlative mid-Miocene fossil localities in Nebraska of "Falco" ramenta, revise the systematic position of this species, document its stratigraphic range, and review all known Neogene records of the family Falconidae. MATERIAL AND METHODS Anatomical terminology follows Baumel et al. (1979). Measurements were taken with Kanon dial calipers, accurate to 0.05 mm and rounded to the nearest 0.1 mm. Fossil specimens examined are in the Frick collections at the American Museum of Natural History (F:AM), the Idaho Museum of Natural History (IMNH), and the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (USNM). Skeletons of Falconidae examined (subfamily names are used throughout in an informal sense to conveniently designate groups of related genera): Herpetotherinae (Herpetotheres cachinnans, 5); Micrasturinae (Micrastur semitorquatus, 5; M. ruficollis, 2); Polyborinae (Daptrius ater, 5; D. americanus, 3;Milvago chimachima, 7; M. chimango, 6; Phalcoboenus australis, 6; Polyborus plancus cheriway, 6; Spiziapteryx circumcinctus, 3); Falconinae (Polihierax semitorquatus, 7; P. insignis, 1; Microhierax caerulescens, 3; Falco sparverius, 2; F. columbarius, 26; F. cherrug, 2; F. biarmicus, 1; F. subbuteo, 2; F. peregrinus, 1; F. berigora, 1). Additionally, one skeleton each of Buteo jamaicensis, Ictinia plumbea, Circus cyaneus, and Neophron percnopterus were examined.