A new species of fossil barbet (Aves: Piciformes) from the middle Miocene of the Nördlinger Ries (southern Germany)

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Abstract
A new species of barbet in the Miocene genus Capitonides is described from middle Miocene lake deposits in southern Germany. This was smaller than the type species, C. europeus, from Burdigalian deposits at Wintershof, Germany. Capitonides is shown to be closely related to the extant African genus Trachyphonus, which is considered to be the most primitive genus in the family. The presence of barbets indicates that winter temperatures in the middle Miocene of southern Germany were milder than at present.