Chupkaornis Explained

Chupkaornis is a genus of prehistoric flightless birds from the Late Cretaceous (Coniacian-Santonian) Kashima Formation of Hokkaido, Japan.

Description

Diagnostic traits of Chupkaornis include a finger-like projected tibiofibular crest of femur, deep, emarginated lateral excavation with a sharply defined edge of the ventral margin of the thoracic vertebrae, and the heterocoelous articular surface of the thoracic vertebrae.[1]

Phylogeny

Chupkaornis is recovered by Tanaka et al. (2017) as more derived than the Cenomanian-age form Pasquiaornis, but less advanced than Brodavis and Baptornis.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Tomonori Tanaka, Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, Ken'ichi Kurihara, Anthony R. Fiorillo and Manabu Kano. 2017. The Oldest Asian Hesperornithiform from the Upper Cretaceous of Japan, and the Phylogenetic Reassessment of Hesperornithiformes. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.