Zhylgaia

Zhylgaia
Temporal range: Paleocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Phaethontiformes
Genus: Zhylgaia
Nessov, 1988
Species:
Z. aestiflua
Binomial name
Zhylgaia aestiflua
Nessov, 1988

Zhylgaia is a genus of fossil bird. Its remains, consisting of two partial humeri, were recovered from an upper Paleocene deposit in Kazakhstan.[1]

The relationships of this genus are unknown; it was initially placed in the Presbyornithidae, which at that time were believed to be some sort of "transitional shorebird". Upon recognition that the presbyornithids were more likely a prehistoric lineage of fairly advanced waterfowl, Zhylgaia was assigned to the form taxon "Graculavidae", an assemblage of Late Cretaceous and Paleocene shorebirds which are not a natural clade but merely an assemblage of superficially similar birds. All that can be said about this taxon is that it was a modern bird, most likely a neognath.[citation needed]

In 2008, Zhylgaia was assigned to Prophaethontidae—an extinct family related to modern tropicbirds—on the basis of its anatomy and size closely matching the prophaethontid Lithoptila.[1]

  1. ^ a b Bourdon, Estelle; Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile; Amaghzaz, Mbarek; Bouya, Baâdi (2008-09-12). "New specimens of Lithoptila abdounensis (Aves, Prophaethontidae) from the lower Paleogene of Morocco". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 28 (3): 751–761. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28[751:NSOLAA]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0272-4634.