Yevgeny Nikolayevich Kurochkin (Евгений Николаевич Курочкин; 12 July 1940 - 13 December 2011) was a Russian paleornithologist at the

Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences The Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (PIN; russian: Палеонтологический институт РАН) in Moscow is among the world's largest paleontological institutes. An affiliate of the Russian Academy of Scienc ...

. He served as President of the Menzbier Ornithological Society. He graduated from the Moscow State University in 1964. Most of his field work was done in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. In 1982, Kurochkin described ''

Ambiortus ''Ambiortus'' is a prehistoric bird genus. The only known species, ''Ambiortus dementjevi'', lived sometime during the Barremian age between 136.4 and 125 million years agoHoltz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012). ''Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Da ...

'', which he thought to be the oldest

ornithurine Ornithurae (meaning "bird tails" in Greek) is a natural group which includes the common ancestor of ''Ichthyornis'', ''Hesperornis'', and all modern birds as well as all other descendants of that common ancestor. Classification Ernst Haeckel coi ...

(modern-type bird). Kurochkin named the new species after his peer Georgi Petrovich Dementyev (1898-1969). In 2011, Kurochkin and

Gareth J. Dyke Gareth John Dyke is a paleontologist whose work is concerned with the evolutionary history of birds and their dinosaurian relatives. His specific research interests include the phylogenetics of birds, the functional morphology of aves and non-avia ...

described '' Eostrix tsaganica'' found in

, the first find of this primitive owl in Asia. Opposing the theropod origin of modern

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

, Kurochkin maintained that archosaurs and

dinosaurs Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

were two distinct lineages. He repeatedly questioned the assumption that

Archaeopteryx ''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird''), is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (''archaīos''), meaning "ancient", and (''ptéryx''), meaning "feather" ...

and

Enantiornithes The Enantiornithes, also known as enantiornithines or enantiornitheans in literature, are a group of extinct avialans ("birds" in the broad sense), the most abundant and diverse group known from the Mesozoic era. Almost all retained teeth and cla ...

were early birds. According to Kurochkin, those moderately derived theropods became extinct without leaving any descendants. He also supported the

Protoavis ''Protoavis'' (meaning "first bird") is a problematic taxon known from fragmentary remains from Late Triassic Norian stage deposits near Post, Texas. Much controversy remains over the animal, and there are many different interpretations of what ...

hypothesis by

Sankar Chatterjee Sankar Chatterjee (born May 28, 1943) is a paleontologist, and is the Paul W. Horn Professor of Geosciences at Texas Tech University and Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of Texas Tech University. He earned his Ph. D. from the University of ...

. The ''

Aquila kurochkini Aquila may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Aquila'', a series of books by S.P. Somtow * ''Aquila'', a 1997 book by Andrew Norriss * ''Aquila'' (children's magazine), a UK-based children's magazine * ''Aquila'' (journal), an orni ...

'' Boev 2013, an extinct eagle from

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, is named after Yevgeny Kurochkin, as is the ''

Longusunguis ''Longusunguis'' is an extinct genus of bohaiornithid enantiornithean dinosaur known from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, northeastern China. It contains a single species, ''Longusunguis kurochkini''. Discovery ''Longusunguis'' w ...

kurochkini'' Wang, Zhou, O’Connor et Zelenkov, 2014(first described in 2014). Other bird species named after Yevgeny Kurochkin are: '' Anas kurochkini'' Zelenkov et Panteleyev, 2014, ''

Palaelodus kurochkini ''Palaelodus'' is an extinct genus of bird of the Palaelodidae family, distantly related to flamingos. They were slender birds with long, thin legs and a long neck resembling their modern relatives, but likely lived very different livestyles. The ...

'' Zelenkov, 2013, '' Zheroia kurochkini'' Nessov, 1988, '' Falco kurochkini'' Suárez et Olson, 2001, ''

Glaucidium kurochkini Kurochkin's pygmy owl (''Glaucidium kurochkini'') is an extinct species of pygmy owl that existed in what is now California, U.S.A. during the Late Pleistocene Epoch. Discovery and naming The holotype of ''Glaucidium kurochkini'' is LACM RLB K9 ...

'' Campbell et Bocheński, 2012, '' Euronyctibius kurochkini'' Mourer-Chauviré, 1989 and '' Evgenavis nobilis'' O'Connor ''et al.'', 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurochkin, Evgeny Russian paleontologists Soviet paleontologists Russian ornithologists 1940 births 2011 deaths Moscow State University alumni