Psittacopes Explained
Psittacopes is an extinct genus of bird from Middle Eocene. One species is recorded from Messel, Germany (P. lepidus), and other three possible species are from London Clay, England, one named ?Psittacopes occidentalis in 2022,[1] and the other two unnamed. Its phylogenetic placement within Aves is uncertain; it was originally interpreted as a parrot, but the phylogenetic analysis conducted by Mayr (2015) recovered it as more closely related to the passerines and the extinct family Zygodactylidae.[2]
References
Notes and References
- Mayr . Gerald . Kitchener . Andrew C. . 2022-11-14 . Psittacopedids and zygodactylids: The diverse and species-rich psittacopasserine birds from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK) . Historical Biology . 1–24 . 10.1080/08912963.2022.2141629 . 0891-2963. free .
- Gerald Mayr . A reassessment of Eocene parrotlike fossils indicates a previously undetected radiation of zygodactyl stem group representatives of passerines (Passeriformes) . 10.1111/zsc.12128 . 2015 . Zoologica Scripta . 44 . 6 . 587–602 . 85599482 .
