Rhynchaeites

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Rhynchaeites
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Rhynchaeites species fossil
Scientific classification
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Rhynchaeites

Wittich (1898)

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Rhynchaeites is an extinct genus of Threskiornithidae related to modern ibises and has a single named species Rhynchaeites meselensis. It lived in today's Germany during the mid-Eocene and its remains were found in the famous Messel pit.

However, leg bone fossils of a similar bird were found in the Early Eocene Fur Formation in Denmark. It has been hypothesized that the supposed parrot relative Mopsitta tanta, known from a single humerus bone, is the same bird as the leg fossils and thus actually belongs in Rhynchaeites too.

File:Rhynchaeites messelensis.jpg
Rhynchaeites messelensis

References

  • "The Origin and Evolution of Birds" by Alan Feduccia

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