In the first week of June, the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia (NMNHS) hosted for the second time Prof. Zbigniew M. Bochenski from the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals at the the Polish Academy of Sciences (ISEA-PAS) as a guest of Prof. Zlatozar Boev. They conducted research in the osteological collection of NMNHS within the framework of the scientific cooperation agreement between the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
The aim of this two-year project (2024—2025) is to create a key for the identification of the proximal phalanx (phalanx proximalis digiti majoris) from the wing of European birds. It will be the first dichotomous key in Europe covering this skeletal element. This bone is easily recognizable and relatively often found in paleontological and archaeological assemblages. In a bird’s wing, it plays an important role related to flight, because part of the primary flight feathers are attached to it. With the help of the key, it will be possible to identify this bone to individual orders, families, genera or even species of birds. The key will facilitate the identification of fossil and archaeozoological materials, and the features described in it can be used in the future for research on the phylogeny and ecomorphology of various groups of birds.
Why is international cooperation desirable? Both Krakow and Sofia have very large osteological collections, numbering many thousands of birds from all systematic groups. These collections complement each other with species with different ranges of occurrence. Morphological features found in one collection are checked on specimens from the other collection, which definitely has a positive effect on the quality of research. Work on the key is already very advanced.
Two more researchers are involved in the project: dr hab. Teresa Tomek and dr Krzysztof Wertz both from ISEA-PAN. The manuscript will be submitted for publication at the end of the year.
Working in an osteological collection is tiring in the long run: tight and stuffy storage rooms, dusty boxes with specimens, looking at bones under a magnifying glass... Sometimes you need to clear your mind and give your body a break. And at the same time, you can combine business with pleasure: It is good to know not only the bones of a given species, but also what a living bird looks like and in what environment it lives. So, as part of “working in the collection”, Prof. Zlatozar Boev (NMHNS) and Prof. Zbigniew M. Bochenski (ISEA-PAS) went to observe vultures in the Center for the Reintroduction of Griffon and Black Vultures in the region of the village of Dolno Ozirovo near the town of Varshets (Montana Region). Our guide was the ornithologist from the Society for the Protection of Birds of Prey, MS Georgi Stoyanov. Dozens of majestic birds observed perched on the rocks and circled above us in the sky leaving a feeling of the insignificance of man in front of the majesty of nature. The project team also visited the Paleopark Varshets, built in 2022 on the initiative and with the participation of the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in the town of the same name. Many of the established species of birds, mammals and reptiles that lived in the vicinity of the paleontological site “Varshets” are displayed in a modern and attractive way. The locality of Varshets has become a reference site for the early Pleistocene in Europe.