Eurolimnornis

Taxobox|
name = "Eurolimnornis"
fossil_range = Early Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
superordo = Neognathae?
ordo = Eurolimnornithiformes
ordo_authority = Bock & Buhler, 1996
familia = Eurolimnornithidae
familia_authority = Kessler & Jurcsák, 1986
genus = "Eurolimnornis"
genus_authority = Kessler & Jurcsák, 1986
species = "E. corneti"
binomial = "Eurolimnornis corneti"
binomial_authority = Kessler & Jurcsák, 1986
synonyms = "Limnornis corneti"
Taxobox_authority | author = Kessler & Jurcsák | date = 1984

"Eurolimnornis" is the name given to a monotypic genus of fossil bird from the Early Cretaceous. "E. corneti" probably was a primitive, but essentially modern bird and may indeed be an early neognathe ancestral to the grebes, although the alternative theories that it was a theropod or pterosaur (Benton "et al.", 1997) or a more primitive (ornithuromorph) bird cannot be completely refuted.

The holotype and only material known to date (MTCO-P 7896) is a distal fragment of the right humerus, which was at first ascribed to the same species as the specimen of "Palaeocursornis corneti". Regarding the synonymy (or lack thereof) of this taxon, see Bock & Bühler (1996).

The remains were found in Berriasian (around 143 mya) deposits at Cornet near Oradea, Romania. "Eurolimnornis" occurred on what was then an archipelago of volcanic and coral islands towards the east of the Piemont-Liguria Ocean. Its habitat was hilly, karstic terrain with numerous freshwater and/or brackish rivers, lakes and swamps. As this archipelago lay around 35°N latitude in a warmer, wetter climate than exists today, it was roughly similar to today's Caribbean or Indonesia.(Benton "et al.", 1997)

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. doi|10.1016/S0031-0182(96)00151-4 [http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Benton/reprints/1997Romania.pdf PDF fulltext]

* Bock, Walter J. & Bühler, Paul (1996): Nomenclature of Cretaceous birds from Romania. "Cretaceous Research" 17: 509–514. [http://www.geo.edu.ro/sgr/mod/downloads/PDF/Bock-KRes-1996.pdf PDF fulltext]

* 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.