| Asian ostrich | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Asian ostrich skeleton | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Infraclass: | Palaeognathae |
| Order: | Struthioniformes |
| Family: | Struthionidae |
| Genus: | Struthio |
| Species: | †S. asiaticus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Struthio asiaticus Milne-Edwards, 1871[1] | |
| Synonyms | |
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TheAsian orAsiatic ostrich (Struthio asiaticus) is an extinct species ofostrich that lived during theNeogene period on theIndian subcontinent.
The early records that ranged from thePliocene Epoch inAfrica to thePleistocene-Holocene Epoch innortheastern Asia are considered dubious.[2] Beads made from shells taken from archaeological sites in India dating to more than 25,000 years were found to have traces of DNA and analysis of sequences examined from them show that the species is definitely in the genusStruthio.[3]
Asian ostriches were large, being more robustly built and reaching about the same height as an adult male of the extantcommon ostrich. It may have had short toes, but this is considered a tentative assumption.[2][4] A specimen from the Pliocene ofMorocco could be 20% bigger than an adult male of the extantStruthio camelus,[5] but the African specimens are considered dubious, and the "exact proportions are difficult to reconstruct on the basis of the available material."[2]
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