Pumiliornis Temporal range:
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Scientific classification
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Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Clade: | Australaves |
Family: | † Morsoravidae |
Genus: | †
Pumiliornis (Mayr, 1999) |
Type species | |
†Pumiliornis tessellatus (Mayr, 1999)
|
Pumiliornis tessellatus is an ancient bird from the Middle Eocene of Messel, Hesse, Germany. It is described as a wren-sized [1] anisodactyl bird with a long, slender bill and strong hallux. Its species name tessellatus, meaning "mosaic" in Latin, is a reference to its unusual distribution of characters and uncertain phylogenetic placement. [2] [3] It has some anatomical affinities with Cuculiformes, but similar fossils that might be related to this taxon do not. [4]
In 2014, a new specimen of Pumiliornis was described that showed preserved stomach contents of pollen grains from a eudicotyledonous angiosperm, making it the earliest fossil evidence of flower-visiting behavior in birds. [5]
Pumiliornis Temporal range:
| |
---|---|
Scientific classification
![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Clade: | Australaves |
Family: | † Morsoravidae |
Genus: | †
Pumiliornis (Mayr, 1999) |
Type species | |
†Pumiliornis tessellatus (Mayr, 1999)
|
Pumiliornis tessellatus is an ancient bird from the Middle Eocene of Messel, Hesse, Germany. It is described as a wren-sized [1] anisodactyl bird with a long, slender bill and strong hallux. Its species name tessellatus, meaning "mosaic" in Latin, is a reference to its unusual distribution of characters and uncertain phylogenetic placement. [2] [3] It has some anatomical affinities with Cuculiformes, but similar fossils that might be related to this taxon do not. [4]
In 2014, a new specimen of Pumiliornis was described that showed preserved stomach contents of pollen grains from a eudicotyledonous angiosperm, making it the earliest fossil evidence of flower-visiting behavior in birds. [5]