Annotated catalogue of the fossil vertebrates from Antarctica housed in the Museo de La Plata, Argentina.: I.: Birds and land mammals from La Meseta Formation (Eocene ?early Oligocene)

The fossil vertebrate collection from Antarctica housed in the Departamento Cientifico Paleontologia Vertebrados of Museo de La Plata house more than 15,000 specimens. It includes fishes, marine reptiles, dinosaurs, birds and mammals. The material was collected from Vega, James Ross, and Seymour islands and in the Antarctic Peninsula and comes from different stratigraphic horizons, ranging from the Late Cretaceous to the ?early Oligocene. This catalogue includes birds (242 specimens, most of which are penguins) and land mammals (49 specimens) from La Meseta Formation (Eocene - ?early Oligocene) of Seymour Island. The importance of this collection lies in the great number and diversity of specimens, as well as the presence of at least 15 new taxa and the first records of many groups in Antarctica.