| Patagopteryx | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skeleton restoration | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Avialae |
| Clade: | Euornithes |
| Clade: | †Patagopterygiformes |
| Family: | †Patagopterygidae Alvarenga &Bonaparte, 1992 |
| Genus: | †Patagopteryx Alvarenga & Bonaparte, 1992 |
| Species: | †P. deferrariisi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Patagopteryx deferrariisi Alvarenga & Bonaparte, 1992 | |
Patagopteryx is an extinctmonotypicgenus ofeuornitheandinosaurs that lived during theLate Cretaceous, around 80mya, in what is now theSierra Barrosa in northwesternPatagonia,Argentina.[1] About the size of a chicken, it is the earliest known unequivocal example of secondaryflightlessness: its skeleton shows clear indications that the ancestors ofPatagopteryx were flying animals, though other studies find earlier diverging theropods to be secondarily flightless.[2]
Located in strata of theSantonianBajo de la Carpa Formation, the original remains were discovered by Oscar de Ferrariis, Director of the Natural History Museum of theComahue National University inNeuquén around 1984–5. He passed them onto noted paleontologistJosé Bonaparte, who described thespeciesPatagopteryx deferrariisi in 1992.
Patagopteryx had feet with fused bones, much like modern birds. The animal did not have afurcula (wishbone), meaning it could not have had the muscles necessary for flying. The legs had very short femurs, characteristic of a running animal. The second toe had a curvedclaw, but it does not appear to have been used as a weapon. It wasomnivorous, and probably traveled in flocks across the plains of South America.[3]
.jpg)
