Kelenken
| Kelenken | ||||||||||||
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Kelenken |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Miocene | ||||||||||||
| 15.5 to 13.8 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Kelenken | ||||||||||||
| Bertelli , Chiappe , Tambussi , 2007 | ||||||||||||
With a height of over 3 m, Kelenken is the largest known representative of the extinct terror birds (Phorusrhacidae). The only described species, Kelenken guillermoi , was named after "kelenken", a terrifying spirit of the Tehuelche tribe of Patagonia and the finder of the fossils , Guillermo Aguirre-Zabala. The holotype , consisting of a skull without a lower jaw, a tarsometatarsus (the fused metatarsals of birds) and a toe bone, was found in the Argentine province of Río Negro in northwestern Patagonia. The finds come from the Middle Miocene .
features
The skull is well preserved, just slightly compressed dorsoventrally. He is elongated and has a length of 71.6 cm. This makes it the longest bird skull ever found. The beak makes up more than half the length of the skull (56%). Seen from above, the skull is triangular. It is significantly less stocky than the skulls of smaller Phorusrhaciden.
The tarsometatarsus is 43.7 cm long, 4.8 cm in diameter in the middle and over 9 cm at the two ends.
swell
- Sara Bertelli, Luis M. Chiappe, Claudia Tambussi: A new Phorusrhacis (Aves: Cariamae) from the Middle Miocene of Patagonia, Argentinia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Jun 2007: Vol. 27, Issue 2, pg (s) 409-419 doi : 10.1671 / 0272-4634 (2007) 27 [409: ANPACF] 2.0.CO; 2