Austinornis

Austinornis
Temporal range: ConiacianSantonian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: Avialae
Clade: Ornithuromorpha
Clade: Ornithurae
Genus: Austinornis
Clarke, 2004
Type species
Austinornis lentus
(Clarke, 2004)
Synonyms

Ichthyornis lentus (Marsh, 1877)

Austinornis is an extinct genus of prehistoric bird of uncertain phylogenetic placement from the Late Cretaceous of Texas. The paleontologist Julia A. Clarke named the genus in 2004 based on a partial tarsometatarsus fossil from Austin Chalk.[1] Although Austinornis was thought to be a pangalliform,[1] other researchers have disputed its classification and dismissed it in phylogenetic analyses due to the fragmentary nature of the holotype.[2][3][4] Notably, in 2014, Gerald Mayr suggested that Austinornis is a non-neornithine from the Coniacian or Santonian age and that the specimen probably belongs to the ornithurine Apatornis or Iaceornis.[5]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Clarke, J.A. (2004). "Morphology, phylogenetic taxonomy, and systematics of Ichthyornis and Apatornis (Avialae: Ornithurae)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 286: 1–179. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2004)286<0001:mptaso>2.0.co;2. hdl:2246/454. S2CID 84035285.
  2. ^ Cécile Mourer-Chauviré; Martin Pickford; Brigitte Senut (2011). "The first Palaeogene galliform from Africa". Journal of Ornithology. 152 (3): 617–622. doi:10.1007/s10336-010-0630-9. S2CID 1799305.
  3. ^ Braun, Edward L.; Cracraft, Joel; Houde, Peter (2019). "Resolving the Avian Tree of Life from Top to Bottom: The Promise and Potential Boundaries of the Phylogenomic Era". Avian Genomics in Ecology and Evolution. pp. 151–210. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-16477-5_6. ISBN 978-3-030-16476-8. S2CID 198399272.
  4. ^ Ksepka, Daniel T.; Early, Catherine M.; Dzikiewicz, Kate; Balanoff, Amy M. (October 2022). "Osteology and neuroanatomy of a phasianid (Aves: Galliformes) from the Miocene of Nebraska". Journal of Paleontology. 97: 223–242. doi:10.1017/jpa.2022.80. ISSN 0022-3360. S2CID 253033983.
  5. ^ Mayr, Gerald (March 2014). Smith, Andrew (ed.). "The origins of crown group birds: molecules and fossils". Palaeontology. 57 (2): 231–242. Bibcode:2014Palgy..57..231M. doi:10.1111/pala.12103. S2CID 85180754.