Strigogyps
| Strigogyps | ||||||||||||
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Fossil of Strigogyps sapea from the Messel pit in the Senckenberg Nature Museum in Frankfurt. |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Middle Eocene to Upper Oligocene | ||||||||||||
| ~ 50 to ~ 25 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the family | ||||||||||||
| Ameghinornithidae | ||||||||||||
| Mourer-Chauviré , 1981 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Strigogyps | ||||||||||||
| Gaillard , 1908 | ||||||||||||
Strigogyps is an extinct genus of birds from the Paleogene . Fossils were found in the Messel pit in Hesse, in the Geiseltal in Saxony-Anhalt, in the phosphorite layers of Quercy in south-western France and in the Eckfelder Maar in the south-western Eifel.
features
Strigogyps was medium-sized and resembled the smaller representatives of the Phorusrhaciden , a group of large, predatory birds from South America. The poorly known head was probably more delicate than that of the Phorusrhacids, the wings reduced and relatively small but not as stunted as that of the Phorusrhacids. Strigogyps was probably also flightless or had only a very limited ability to fly. The ulna was thick, shorter than the humerus and very similar to the ulna of the Seriemas . The end of the humerus towards the body was very narrow. The elbow protruded strongly, the hand skeleton was quite long. The legs were strong and had strong, raptor-like claws. The lateral condyle, a hinge roller at the distal end of the lower leg bone, had a circular or almost circular outline on its side (similar to that of the kagu ). The foot was shorter than the thigh bone (about 85%) and much shorter than the lower leg bone (about 55%). The hypotarsus, the bony bulge on the back of the bird's foot, was formed by two parallel ridges (similar to the kagu).
In the holotype of Strigogyps sapea (Messel), the stomach is fossilized and contains plant remains.
Systematics
Strigogyps is classified in the Ameghinornithidae, a bird family that was originally placed as a subfamily in the Phorusrhacidae. The Ameghinornithidae are assigned to the "cariamiden" birds, a group of birds that was named after the recent Seriemas (Cariamidae) and until recently was mostly placed as a subordination to the order of the crane birds (Gruiformes), but has now been elevated to the rank of an order ( Cariamiformes ).
Two other genera of the Ameghinornithidae, Aenigmavis and Ameghinornis , were synonymous with Strigogyps by Gerald Mayr .
species
- Strigogyps ("Ameghinornis") dubius (Quercy)
- Strigogyps robustus (Geiseltal)
- Strigogyps ("Aenigmavis") sapea (Messel)
- Strigogyps sp. (undescribed species) (Eckfelder Maar)
literature
- Gerald Mayr: Paleogene Fossil Birds , Springer, 2009, ISBN 978-3540896272
- Dieter Stefan Peters: The fossil family Ameghinornithidae (Mourer-Chauviré 1981) a short synopsis (PDF; 252 kB). J Ornithol (2007) 148: 25-28, DOI: 10.1007 / s10336-006-0095-z
Individual evidence
- ↑ Proposal (# 290) to South American Classification Committee - Recognize Cariamidae in their own Order, Cariamiformes ( Memento of the original from April 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ IOC World Bird List - Order Cariamiformes at
