Pachystruthio

Pachystruthio is a genus of extinct bird which lived in Eurasia from the Late Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene.[1] Its fossils have been found in Hungary, the Crimea, Romania, Georgia, and China.[2] The genus contains three species: P. pannonicus (the type species), P. dmanisensis, and P. transcaucasicus, which were all formerly placed with the ostrich genus, Struthio. An incomplete femur from the Nihewan Formation (China) has been assigned to Pachystruthio indet. P. dmanisensis has been estimated standing 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) tall and weighing up to 450 kg (990 lb), making it much larger than the modern ostrich and one of the largest known birds.[1]

Pachystruthio
Temporal range: Late Pliocene–Middle Pleistocene
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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Struthioniformes
Family: Struthionidae
Genus: †Pachystruthio
Kretzoi, 1954
Type species
Pachystruthio pannonicus
Kretzoi, 1954
Other species
  • Pachystruthio dmanisensis (Burchak-Abramovich & Vekua, 1990)
  • Pachystruthio transcaucasicus (Burchak-Abramovich & Vekua, 1971)
Synonyms
  • Struthio pannonicus Kretzoi, 1954
  • Struthio dmanisensis Burchak-Abramovich & Vekua, 1990
  • Struthio transcaucasicus Burchak-Abramovich & Vekua, 1971

Although Pachystruthio is known as the giant ostrich, its relationship to the extant ostriches of the genus Struthio is not clear.[1][3]

References
  1. Zelenkov, N. V.; Lavrov, A. V.; Startsev, D. B.; Vislobokova, I. A.; Lopatin, A. V. (2019). "A giant early Pleistocene bird from eastern Europe: unexpected component of terrestrial faunas at the time of early Homo arrival". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: e1605521. doi:10.1080/02724634.2019.1605521.
  2. Buffetaut, Eric; Angst, Delphine (2021). "A Giant Ostrich from the Lower Pleistocene Nihewan Formation of North China, with a Review of the Fossil Ostriches of China". Diversity. 13 (2): 47. doi:10.3390/d13020047.
  3. McRae, Mike. "Giant 11-Foot Bird Discovered in Europe Would Have Weighed Almost Half a Tonne". ScienceAlert. Retrieved 2019-06-27.


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