A skull of a very large crane from the late Miocene of Southern Germany, with notes on the phylogenetic interrelationships of extant Gruinae

We describe a partial skull of a very large crane from the early late Miocene (Tortonian) hominid locality Hammerschmiede in southern Germany, which is the oldest fossil record of the Gruinae (true cranes). The fossil exhibits an unusual preservation in that only the dorsal portions of the neurocranium and beak are preserved. Even though it is, therefore, very fragmentary, two morphological characteristics are striking and of paleobiological significance: its large size and the very long beak. The fossil is from a species the size of the largest extant cranes and represents the earliest record of a large-sized crane in Europe. Overall, the specimen resembles the skull of the extant, very long-beaked Siberian Crane,Leucogeranus leucogeranus, but its affinities within Gruinae cannot be determined owing to the incomplete preservation. Judging from its size, the fossil may possibly belong to the very large "Grus"pentelici, which stems from temporally and geographically proximate sites. The long beak of the Hammerschmiede crane conforms to an open freshwater paleohabitat, which prevailed at the locality.