Patagopteryx
Patagopteryx | |
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Skeleton restoration | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Clade: | Avialae |
Clade: | Euornithes |
Clade: | †Patagopterygiformes |
Family: | †Patagopterygidae Alvarenga & Bonaparte, 1992 |
Genus: | †Patagopteryx Alvarenga & Bonaparte, 1992 |
Species: | †P. deferrariisi
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Binomial name | |
†Patagopteryx deferrariisi Alvarenga & Bonaparte, 1992
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Patagopteryx is an extinct
Located in strata of the Santonian Bajo de la Carpa Formation, the original remains were discovered by Oscar de Ferrariis, Director of the Natural History Museum of the Comahue National University in Neuquén around 1984–5. He passed them onto noted paleontologist José Bonaparte, who described the species Patagopteryx deferrariisi in 1992.
Characteristics
Patagopteryx had feet with fused bones, much like modern birds. The animal did not have a furcula (wishbone), meaning it could not have had the muscles necessary for flying. The legs had very short femurs, characteristic of a running animal. The second toe had a curved claw, but it does not appear to have been used as a weapon. It was omnivorous, and probably traveled in flocks across the plains of South America.[2]
References
- ^ H. M. F. Alvarenga and J. F. Bonaparte. 1992. A new flightless landbird from the Cretaceous of Patagonia. Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Science Series 36:51-64 [J. Hunter/J. Hunter/J. Hunter]
- ISBN 9780754817307.