Pseudocrypturus

Pseudocrypturus Temporal range: 55.8–50.3  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Early Eocene [1]
Head and neck of the holotype specimen in the Smithsonian Institution
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Infraclass:	Palaeognathae
Order:	† Lithornithiformes
Family:	† Lithornithidae
Genus:	† Pseudocrypturus (Houde, 1988) [2]
Type species
†Pseudocrypturus cercanaxius Houde, 1988
Other species
†?P. danielsi Mayr & Kitchener, 2025 [3] †?P. gracilipesMayr & Kitchener, 2025 [3]

Pseudocrypturus is a genus of extinct paleognathous bird. Three species are known and the type species is Pseudocrypturus cercanaxius. It is a relative of such modern birds as ostriches. It lived in the early Eocene. The holotype fossil is in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. It has catalog number USNM 336103. It was collected from the Fossil Butte Member, Green River Formation, Lincoln County, Wyoming. ^[4]

Taxonomy

Cast at Aathal Dinosaur Museum

Pseudocrypturus means false tinamou. The species name cercanaxius comes from ancient Greek words kerkion, tail, and anaxios, worthless, in reference to the rudimentary pygostyle of this species.^{[ citation needed ]}

Footnotes

1. "Pseudocrypturus". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2021-09-23.
2. Hinton, A. C. (1996)
3. Mayr, G.; Kitchener, A. C. (2025). "The Lithornithiformes (Aves) from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK)". Papers in Palaeontology. 11 (1). e1611. doi: 10.1002/spp2.1611 .
4. Houde, Peter W. (1988)

References

• Hinton, A. C.; Lang, W. D.; et al. (1996). Edwards, Marcia A. (ed.). Nomenclator Zoologicus. Vol. 9. Regents Park, London: Zoological Society of London. p. 479.
• Houde, Peter W. (1988). "Paleognathous Birds from the Early Tertiary of the Northern Hemisphere". Publications of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. 22. Cambridge MA: Nuttall Ornithological Club.