Palaeoscinis
Palaeoscinis | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Suborder: | Passeri |
Family: | †Palaeoscinidae Howard, 1957 |
Genus: | †Palaeoscinis Howard, 1957 |
Species: | †P. turdirostris
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Binomial name | |
†Palaeoscinis turdirostris Howard, 1957
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Palaeoscinis (meaning "ancient oscine") is an
and only species P. turdirostris.The fossil was first discovered in 1955 on two slabs of
The beak is long and slender, similar to that of the modern varied thrush, and its body proportions are also generally similar to thrushes. The legs are relatively short, though, unlike thrushes, and are shorter than the bones of the wing. Feather imprints on the slab suggest the wings may have been relatively short, although it is possible that they were not fully preserved. The foot is typical of songbirds, with a reversed 1st toe and three forward facing ones, of which the middle is the longest and the 2nd is the shortest, with the 1st and 4th toes roughly equal in length. The three forward facing claws are short, but the claw of the reversed 1st toe is long, approximately 70% the length of the preceding toe bone.
Palaeoscinus was assigned to its own family due to the combination of skeletal characteristics (mostly of the
The area has produced fossils of other marine animals, including fossils of a
.References
- Howard, Hildegarde (1957). "A new species of Passerine bird from the Miocene of California". Contributions in Science. 9. Los Angeles County Museum: 1–16. OCLC 1266175.
- Steadman, David W. (1981). "A re-examination of Palaeostruthus hatcheri (Shufeldt), a late Miocene sparrow from Kansas". .
- Wetmore, Alexander (1960). "A classification for the birds of the world" (PDF). Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 139 (11): 1–37.