Palaeophasianus

Palaeophasianus
Temporal range: Early Eocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Infraclass: Palaeognathae
Family: †Geranoididae
Genus: †Palaeophasianus
Shufeldt, 1913
Species:
†P. meleagroides
Binomial name
†Palaeophasianus meleagroides
Shufeldt, 1913
Synonyms

Palaeophasianus is an extinct genus of flightless Geranoididae birds that lived in North America during the Eocene period. Robert Wilson Shufeldt classified Palaeophasianus as a galliform when he described it in 1913.[1] However it was transferred to Cracidae in 1964 by Pierce Brodkorb,[2] while Joel Cracraft in 1968 placed it in Gruiformes.[3][4]

The only species in this genus is P. meleagroides,[5][6] and it is described as a "ground-dwelling carnivore".[6] The fossil remains were found by the American Museum expedition of 1910 in Big Horn County, Wyoming, in the Willwood formation (early Eocene).[7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference shufeldt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference brod was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cracraft, Joel (August 1969). "Systematics and Evolution of the Gruiformes (Class, Aves)" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (2388). hdl:2246/2598.
  4. ^ Cracraft, Joel (1968). "Reallocation of the Eocene Fossil Palaeophasianus meleagroides Shufeldt". The Wilson Bulletin. 80 (3): 281–285. ISSN 0043-5643. JSTOR 4159740.
  5. ^ "Palaeophasianus". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 2019-11-06.
  6. ^ a b "Palaeophasianus meleagroides". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 2019-11-06.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference site was invoked but never defined (see the help page).