Passer predomesticus

Passer predomesticus Temporal range:
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Passeridae
Genus:	Passer
Species:	P. predomesticus
Binomial name
Passer predomesticus Tchernov, 1962

Passer predomesticus is a fossil passerine bird in the sparrow family Passeridae. First described in 1962, it is known from two premaxillary (upper jaw) bones found in a layer of the Oumm-Qatafa cave in Palestine. The premaxillaries resemble those of the house and Spanish sparrows, but differ in having a deep groove instead of a crest on the lower side. Israeli palaeontologist Eitan Tchernov, who described the species, and others have considered it to be close to the ancestor of the house and Spanish sparrows, but molecular data point to an earlier origin of modern sparrow species. Occurring in a climate Tchernov described as similar to but rainier than that in Palestine today, it was considered by Tchernov as a "wild" ancestor of the modern sparrows which have a commensal association with humans, although its presence in Oumm-Qatafa cave may indicate that it was associated with humans.

The known material of Passer predomesticus consists of two premaxillary bones in the collections of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The bones were described by Israeli palaeontologist Eitan Tchernov in 1962 and reviewed by South African zoologist Miles Markus two years later. Tchernov did not unambiguously identify a type specimen and his paper was said by Robert M. Mengel, the editor of The Auk, to contain "many troublesome lapses and contradictions". In 1975, French palaeontologist Cécile Mourer-Chauviré reported on fossil sparrows from a cave at Saint-Estève-Janson in southeastern France, which could not be identified as either P. predomesticus or the house sparrow (Passer domesticus). Because no premaxillae were found, the bones could not be distinguished from those of the house sparrow.

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