Barawertornis

Barawertornis tedfordi was a dromornithid (mihirung), a huge flightless fowl bird hailing from Late Oligocene to Early Miocene. The only species in the genus Barawertornis, its fossil remains are found in strata of the Riversleigh deposits located at two sites in Northwestern Queensland, Australia.[1] It was described in 1979 by Patricia Vickers-Rich from fragmentary but diagnostic remains, though more specimens have been subsequently found.[2]

Barawertornis
Temporal range: Late Oligocene - Early Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: †Gastornithiformes
Family: †Dromornithidae
Genus: †Barawertornis
P. Rich, 1979
Species:
†B. tedfordi
Binomial name
†Barawertornis tedfordi
P. Rich, 1979

B. tedfordi is currently the smallest known species of dromornithid, comparable in size to the cassowaries[2] and weighing in at 80 to 95 kilograms.[3]

This mihirung was a fleet-footed species, probably a herbivore,[3] that dwelt in the forest habitat covering most of Australia at the time of the bird's existence.

See also

Footnotes
  1. Boles (2005)
  2. SAPE (1999)
  3. Boles (2001)

References
  • Boles, Walter E. (2001): Australian Museum Fact Sheets: 'Thunder Birds' - The Family Dromornithidae. Retrieved 2006-OCT-17.
  • Boles, Walter E. (2005): A New Flightless Gallinule (Aves: Rallidae: Gallinula) from the Oligo-Miocene of Riversleigh, Northwestern Queensland, Australia. (2005) Records of the Australian Museum 57(2): 179–190. ODF fulltext
  • Rich, Patricia (1979): The Dromornithidae, an extinct family of large ground birds endemic to Australia. Bureau of National Resources, Geology and Geophysics Bulletin 184: 1–196. Snippet view at Google Books
  • Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution (SAPE) (1999): Information Letter 13. HTML fulltext


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