''Palaeocursornis'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus of

pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to ...

s. The only known species, ''P. corneti'', was described in 1984 based on a single bone ( MTCO-P 1637) interpreted as the

distal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...

part of a left

femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with ...

, found in Early

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

(

Berriasian In the geological timescale, the Berriasian is an age/stage of the Early/Lower Cretaceous. It is the oldest subdivision in the entire Cretaceous. It has been taken to span the time between 145.0 ± 4.0 Ma and 139.8 ± 3.0 Ma (million years ago) ...

rocks (dating to around 143 mya) from a mine at

Cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

near

Oradea Oradea (, , ; german: Großwardein ; hu, Nagyvárad ) is a city in Romania, located in Crișana, a sub-region of Transylvania. The county seat, seat of Bihor County, Oradea is one of the most important economic, social and cultural centers in the ...

in northwestern

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. It was initially assumed to be a flightless paleognathe

bird 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 ...

, possibly a

ratite A ratite () is any of a diverse group of flightless, large, long-necked, and long-legged birds of the infraclass Palaeognathae. Kiwi, the exception, are much smaller and shorter-legged and are the only nocturnal extant ratites. The systematics ...

, and later as a more primitive

ornithuromorph Euornithes (from Greek ' meaning "true birds") is a natural group which includes the most recent common ancestor of all avialans closer to modern birds than to ''Sinornis''. Description Clarke ''et al''. (2006) found that the most primitive know ...

or non-avialan theropod (Benton ''et al.'', 1997). However, re-evaluation of the specimen suggested that it was not a femur at all, but the upper arm bone (humerus) of a

pterodactyloid Pterodactyloidea (derived from the Greek words ''πτερόν'' (''pterón'', for usual ''ptéryx'') "wing", and ''δάκτυλος'' (''dáktylos'') "finger" meaning "winged finger", "wing-finger" or "finger-wing") is one of the two traditional ...

similar to ''

Azhdarcho ''Azhdarcho'' is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of the Bissekty Formation (middle Turonian stage, about 92 million years ago) of Uzbekistan, as well as the Zhirkindek Formation of Kazakhstan. It is known from ...

''. The animal occurred on what at that time was an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

and

coral island A coral island is a type of island formed from coral detritus and associated organic material. It occurs in tropical and sub-tropical areas, typically as part of a coral reef which has grown to cover a far larger area under the sea. Ecosystem ...

s towards the east of the

Piemont-Liguria Ocean The Piemont-Liguria basin or the Piemont-Liguria Ocean (sometimes only one of the two names is used, for example: Piemonte Ocean) was a former piece of oceanic crust that is seen as part of the Tethys Ocean. Together with some other oceanic basi ...

. As the archipelago lay around 35°N

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

in a warmer, wetter climate than exists today, it was roughly similar to today's

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. The

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of ''Palaeocursornis'' was hilly,

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

ic terrain with numerous freshwater and/or

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

rivers, lakes and swamps.(Benton ''et al.'', 1997)

Taxonomy

Initially, the bones were described as ''Limnornis corneti'' (Kessler & Jurcsák, 1984). However, that genus name had already been given to the

curve-billed reedhaunter The curve-billed reedhaunter (''Limnornis curvirostris'') is a species of bird in the family Furnariidae. It is found in marshy areas of north-eastern Argentina, south-eastern Brazil, and Uruguay. It occupies a similar ecological niche to some ...

(''L. curvirostris''), an

ovenbird The ovenbird (''Seiurus aurocapilla'') is a small songbird of the New World warbler family (Parulidae). This migratory bird breeds in eastern North America and winters in Central America, many Caribbean islands, Florida and northern Venezuela. ...

. Moreover, the bones ascribed to the new taxon turned out to be from two different species, possibly not even closely related. Unfortunately, the new name to replace ''Limnornis corneti'' was referring to the material of the other species (which thus became '' Eurolimnornis corneti''), creating considerable confusion since it assigned the same

binomen In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''corneti'') to both species. Subsequent attempts to redescribe the femur as ''Palaeocursornis biharicus'' were invalid as far as the binomen is concerned, but at least established a correct genus (Kessler & Jurcsák, 1986). The currently valid name, ''Palaeocursornis corneti'', was first mentioned by Jurcsák & Kessler in 1985, but it was a ''

nomen nudum In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...

'' at that time and only became valid the following year, when the current genus was validly established (albeit with an unnecessarily synonymous species name), as mentioned above. This confusing history of synonymy was clarified by Bock & Bühler (1996): Synonyms *''Limnornis corneti'' Kessler & Jurcsák 1984 *"Palaeocursornis corneti" Kessler & Jurcsák 1985 (''nomen nudum'') *"Palaeocursornis biharicus" Kessler & Jurcsák 1985 (''nomen nudum'') *''Palaeocursornis biharicus'' Kessler & Jurcsák 1986

References

* Benton, M. J.; Cook, E.; Grigorescu, D., Popa, E. & Tallódi, E. (1997): Dinosaurs and other tetrapods in an Early Cretaceous bauxite-filled fissure, northwestern Romania. ''Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology'' 130: 275-292
PDF fulltext
* Bock, Walter J. & Bühler, Paul (1996): Nomenclature of Cretaceous birds from Romania. ''Cretaceous Research'' 17: 509–514
PDF fulltext
* Jurcsák, T. & Kessler, E. (1985): La palèofaune de Cornet - implications phylogénétiques et écologiques. ''Evolution et Adaptation'' 2: 137-147. * Kessler, E. & Jurcsák, T. (1984): Fossil bird remains in the bauxite from Cornet (Romania, Bihor County). ''Travaux du Musée d'Histoire Naturelle Grigore Antipa'' 25: 393–401. * Kessler, E. & Jurcsák, T. (1986): New contributions to the knowledge of the Lower Cretaceous bird remains from Cornet (Romania). ''Travaux du Musée d'Histoire Naturelle Grigore Antipa'' 28: 289–295. * https://web.archive.org/web/20060519104241/http://www.dinosauria.com/dml/genera.htm {{Portal bar, Paleontology, Cretaceous, Romania Azhdarchids Cretaceous pterosaurs Fossil taxa described in 1986 Cretaceous animals of Europe

Taxonomy

See also

References