Ludiortyx

Taxobox
name = "Ludiortyx"
status = fossil
fossil_range = Late Eocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
subclassis = Neornithes
infraclassis = Neognathae
superorder = Neoaves?
ordo = Gruiformes?
genus = "Ludiortyx"
genus_authority = Brodkorb, 1964
species = "L. hoffmanni"
binomial = "Ludiortyx hoffmanni"
binomial_authority = (Gervais, 1852)
synonyms =Genus:
* "Eortyx" Brodkorb, 1967and see text

"Ludiortyx" is a bird genus from the Late Eocene. Its remains have been found in the Montmartre Formation at the Montmartre (Paris, France). A single species is accepted, "Ludiortyx hoffmanni".

This bird is of uncertain relationships; it has been variously considered to be an ancestral rail or to belong to the Quercymegapodiidae, a prehistoric group of Galliformes (landfowl). The material assigned to it were initially considered to be of 2 species, one that was at first believed to be a "Tringa" wader, the other assigned to the galliform genus "Palaeortyx"Mlíkovský (2002)] . Even the latter assignment was probably much in error as though its relationships are not known, "Palaeortyx" was probably not a quercymegapodiid.

ynonyms

Apart from the genus-level synonym "Eortyx", "L. hoffmanni" has undergone quite a number of name changes due to the confusion about its placement:
* "Tringa hoffmanni" Gervais, 1852
* "Palaeortyx hoffmanni" (Gervais, 1852)
* "Palaeortyx blanchardi" Milne-Edwards, 1869
* "Ludiortyx blanchardi" (Milne-Edwards, 1869)
* "Eortyx hoffmanni" (Gervais, 1852)

Footnotes

References

* (2002): "Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe". Ninox Press, Prague. ISBN 80-901105-3-8 [http://www.nm.cz/download/JML-18-2002-CBE.pdf PDF fulltext]