Pseudocrypturus

Pseudocrypturus is a genus of extinct paleognathous bird. One species is known, Pseudocrypturus cercanaxius. It is a relative of such modern birds as ostriches. It lived in the early Eocene. The holotype fossil is in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. It has catalog number USNM 336103. It was collected from the Fossil Butte Member, Green River Formation, Lincoln County, Wyoming, USA.[2]

Pseudocrypturus
Temporal range: Paleocene - Eocene
Head and neck of the holotype specimen in the Smithsonian Institution
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: †Lithornithiformes
Family: †Lithornithidae
Genus: †Pseudocrypturus
(Houde, 1988)[1]
Species

†Pseudocrypturus cercanaxius

Taxonomy
Cast at Aathal Dinosaur Museum

Pseudocrypturus means false tinamou. The species name cercanaxius comes from ancient Greek words kerkion, tail, and anaxios, worthless, in reference to the rudientary pygostyle of this species.

Footnotes
  1. Hinton, A. C. (1996)
  2. Houde, Peter W. (1988)

References
  • Hinton, A. C.; Lang, W. D.; et al. (1996). Edwards, Marcia A. (ed.). Nomenclator Zoologicus. 9. Regents Park, London: Zoological Society of London. p. 479.
  • Houde, Peter W. (1988). "Paleognathous Birds from the Early Tertiary of the Northern Hemisphere". Publications of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. Cambridge MA: Nuttall Ornithological Club. 22.
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