Pseudocrypturus

Pseudocrypturus
Temporal range: Paleocene - Eocene
Cast at Aathal Dinosaur Museum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:†Lithornithiformes
Family:†Lithornithidae
Genus:†Pseudocrypturus
(Houde, 1988)[1]
Species

†Pseudocrypturus cercanaxius

Pseudocrypturus is a genus of extinct paleognathous bird. One species is known, Pseudocrypturus cercanaxius. It is a relative of such modern birds as ostriches. It lived in the early Eocene.

Cast of the same fossil, Copenhagen Zoological Museum

The holotype fossil is in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. It has catalog number USNM 336103. It was collected from the Fossil Butte Member, Green River Formation, Lincoln County, Wyoming, USA.[2]

Etymology

Pseudocrypturus means false tinamou. The species name cercanaxius comes from ancient Greek words kerkion, tail, and anaxios, worthless, in reference to the rudientary pygostyle of this species.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Hinton, A. C. (1996)
  2. ↑ Houde, Peter W. (1988)

References

  • Hinton, A. C.; Lang, W. D.; et. al (1996). Edwards, Marcia A., ed. Nomenclator Zoologicus. 9. Regents Park, London: Zoological Society of London. p. 479.
  • Houde, Peter W. (1988). "Paleognathous Birds from the Early Tertiary of the Northern Hemisphere". Publications of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. Cambridge MA: Nuttall Ornithological Club. 22.
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