Tsidiiyazhi
| Tsidiiyazhi Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Clade: | Coraciimorphae |
| Order: | Coliiformes |
| Family: | †Sandcoleidae |
| Genus: | †Tsidiiyazhi Ksepka et al., 2017 |
| Species | |
|
†Tsidiiyazhi abini Ksepka et al., 2017 | |
Tsidiiyazhi abini (Navajo: little morning bird) is an extinct relative of the modern mousebirds, found in 2017 in the Nacimiento Formation on ancestral Navajo lands in New Mexico. It is the only species in the genus Tsidiiyazhi. It lived between 62.2 and 62.5 million years ago,[2] making it one of the oldest Cenozoic birds yet described.
Description
T. abini is nearly identical in skeletal dimensions to the modern speckled mousebird,[1] which is about 35 cm (14 in) long (half of that tail) and weighs around 50 grams (1.8 oz).[3] Its feet were semi-zygodactyl, with some features of the toe bones that resemble those of owls. Its skull has not been found.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 Daniel T. Ksepka; Thomas A. Stidham; Thomas E. Williamson (2017). "Early Paleocene landbird supports rapid phylogenetic and morphological diversification of crown birds after the K–Pg mass extinction". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 114 (30): 8047–8052. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114.8047K. doi:10.1073/pnas.1700188114. PMC 5544281. PMID 28696285.
- ↑ "Tiny fossil reveals what happened to birds after dinosaurs went extinct".
- ↑ MacLean, Gordon Lindsay (1993). Robert's Birds of Southern Africa (6th ed.). Cape Town: Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. pp. 363–364.