| Asian ostrich Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Asian ostrich skeleton | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Infraclass: | Palaeognathae |
| Order: | Struthioniformes |
| Family: | Struthionidae |
| Genus: | Struthio |
| Species: | †S. asiaticus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Struthio asiaticus Milne-Edwards, 1871 [1] | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The Asian or Asiatic ostrich (Struthio asiaticus), is an extinct species of ostrich that lived during the Neogene period on the Indian subcontinent.
The early records that ranged from the Pliocene Epoch in Africa to the Pleistocene-Holocene Epoch in northeastern Asia are considered dubious. [2] Beads made from shells taken from archaeological sites in India dating to more than 25,000 years were found to have traces of DNA and analysis of sequences examined from them show that the species is definitely in the genus Struthio. [3]
Asian ostriches were large, being more robustly built and reaching about the same height as an adult male of the extant common ostrich. It may have had short toes, but this is considered a tentative assumption. [2] [4] A specimen from the Pliocene of Morocco could be 20% bigger than an adult male of the extant Struthio camelus , [5] but the African specimens are considered dubious, and the "exact proportions are difficult to reconstruct on the basis of the available material." [2]
The American horned owls and the Old World eagle-owls make up the genus Bubo, at least as traditionally described. The genus name Bubo is Latin for owl.
The darters, anhingas, or snakebirds are mainly tropical waterbirds in the family Anhingidae, which contains a single genus, Anhinga. There are four living species, three of which are very common and widespread while the fourth is rarer and classified as near-threatened by the IUCN. The term snakebird is usually used without any additions to signify whichever of the completely allopatric species occurs in any one region. It refers to their long thin neck, which has a snake-like appearance when they swim with their bodies submerged, or when mated pairs twist it during their bonding displays. "Darter" is used with a geographical term when referring to particular species. It alludes to their manner of procuring food, as they impale fishes with their thin, pointed beak. The American darter is more commonly known as the anhinga. It is sometimes called "water turkey" in the southern United States; though the anhinga is quite unrelated to the wild turkey, they are both large, blackish birds with long tails that are sometimes hunted for food.
The Coraciiformes are a group of usually colourful birds including the kingfishers, the bee-eaters, the rollers, the motmots, and the todies. They generally have syndactyly, with three forward-pointing toes, though in many kingfishers one of these is missing. The members of this order are linked by their “slamming” behaviour, thrashing their prey onto surfaces to disarm or incapacitate them.
Struthionidae is a family of flightless birds, containing the extant ostriches and their extinct relatives. The two extant species of ostrich are the common ostrich and Somali ostrich, both in the genus Struthio, which also contains several species known from Holocene fossils such as the Asian ostrich. The common ostrich is the more widespread of the two living species, and is the largest living bird species. The extinct genus Pachystruthio from the Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene of Eurasia is one of the largest birds ever.
The mousebirds are birds in the order Coliiformes. They are the sister group to the clade Cavitaves, which includes the Leptosomiformes, Trogoniformes (trogons), Bucerotiformes, Piciformes and Coraciformes. This group is now confined to sub-Saharan Africa, and it is the only bird order confined entirely to that continent, with the possible exception of turacos which are considered by some as the distinct order Musophagiformes, and the cuckoo roller, which is the only member of the order Leptosomiformes, and which is found in Madagascar but not mainland Africa. Mousebirds had a wider range in the Paleogene, with a widespread distribution in Europe and North America during the Paleocene.
The ground rollers, Brachypteraciidae, are a small family of non-migratory birds restricted to Madagascar. They are members of the order Coraciiformes and are most closely related to the rollers in the family Coraciidae.
Sagittariidae is a family of raptor with one living species—the secretarybird native to Africa—and a few fossil taxa.
Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large areas of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa.
Bucephala is a genus of diving ducks found in the Northern Hemisphere.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1990.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1992.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1984.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1980.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1975.
Pachystruthio is a genus of extinct bird which lived in Eurasia from the Late Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene. Its fossils have been found in Hungary, Greece Crimea, Georgia, and China. The genus contains three species: P. pannonicus, P. dmanisensis, and P. transcaucasicus, which were all formerly placed with the ostrich genus, Struthio. An incomplete femur from the Nihewan Formation (China) has been assigned to Pachystruthio indet. P. dmanisensis has been estimated standing 3.5 meters tall and weighing up to 450 kg (990 lb), making it much larger than the modern ostrich and one of the largest known birds.
Eleutherornis cotei is an extinct flightless predatory cariamiform bird which lived during the Middle Eocene of France and Switzerland. Since the early 20th century, researchers have initially described the fossils of Eleutherornis as separate taxa, some remains as a species of Gastornis and others as an ancient ratite related to modern ostriches. However, subsequent analyses have questioned the original interpretations, and a thorough reexamination in 2013 indicated that all of these described remains represent the same species.
Geranoididae is a clade of extinct birds from the early to late Eocene and possibly early Oligocene of North America and Europe. These were mid-sized, long-legged flightless birds. Recent research shows that these birds may actually be palaeognaths related to ostriches.
Cécile Mourer-Chauviré is a French paleontologist specializing in birds of the Eocene and the Oligocene. In her early career, she discovered with her husband the Laang Spean cave site of prehistoric humans in Cambodia.
Afrocygnus is an extinct genus of swan, which lived during the Late Miocene, and perhaps up to the Late Pliocene, in what is today North Africa. The only genus of swan known in Africa, aside from fragmentary Pleistocene remains found in East Africa and from occasional observations of vagrant European swans along the Mediterranean coast, it lived in what was during the Miocene a damp wetland spanning from Libya to Chad, alongside the Antracothere Libycosaurus and the early Homininae Sahelanthropus. The genus is considered as the sister taxon of the extant genus Cygnus. Fossils of the genus have been uncovered in the Sahabi Formation of Cyrenaica in Libya, and in the Toros-Menalla locality in the Djurab Desert of Northern Chad.
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