Eutreptornis

Eutreptornis ("changing bird"[1])is a genus of extinct possible cariamiforme bird from the Late Eocene of Utah. It is traditionally considered to be a bathornithid,[2][3] though a combination of the relative incompleteness of the material alongside some differences from other bathornithids have raised some suspicions about this affiliation.[4][5]

Eutreptornis
Temporal range: Late Eocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Cariamiformes (?)
Family: †Bathornithidae (?)
Genus: †Eutreptornis
Cracraft, 1971
Species:
†E. uintae
Binomial name
†Eutreptornis uintae
(Cracraft, 1971)

Description

Eutreptornis is currently represented by a single type species, E. uintae, in turn represented by a tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus from the Uinta Formation of Utah.

Biology

It is represented by the smallest bathornithid remains known.[6] Due to the incompleteness of its remains it is unclear whereas it was flightless like other bathornithids. It was, however, most certainly a terrestrial predator, perhaps akin to its closest living relatives, the seriemas.

Ecology

Eutreptornis co-existed with a rich mammalian megafauna, such as the brontothere Megacerops, as well as other terrestrial birds, including other bathornithid birds such as the larger Bathornis species and the flightless crane-like geranoidids.[7]

References
  1. Joel Cracraft, Systematics and evolution of the Gruiformes (Class Aves). 2, Additional comments on the Bathornithidae, with descriptions of new species. American Museum Novitates; no. 2449
  2. Joel Cracraft, Systematics and evolution of the Gruiformes (Class Aves). 2, Additional comments on the Bathornithidae, with descriptions of new species. American Museum Novitates; no. 2449
  3. Benton, R. C.; Terry, D. O.; Evanoff, E.; McDonald, H. G. (25 May 2015). The White River Badlands: Geology and Paleontology. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-01608-9.
  4. Donald Farmer, Avian Biology, Elsevier, 02/12/2012
  5. Gerald Mayr (2016). "Osteology and phylogenetic affinities of the middle Eocene North American Bathornis grallator—one of the best represented, albeit least known Paleogene cariamiform birds (seriemas and allies)". Journal of Paleontology 90 (2): 357–374. doi:10.1017/jpa.2016.45.
  6. Joel Cracraft, Systematics and evolution of the Gruiformes (Class Aves). 2, Additional comments on the Bathornithidae, with descriptions of new species. American Museum Novitates; no. 2449
  7. Joel Cracraft, Systematics and evolution of the Gruiformes (Class Aves). 2, Additional comments on the Bathornithidae, with descriptions of new species. American Museum Novitates; no. 2449
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