Catenoleimus

Taxobox
name = "Catenoleimus"
status = fossil
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous (Turonian)
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
subclassis = Enantiornithes?
genus = "Catenoleimus"
genus_authority = Panteleev, 1998
species = "C. anachoretus"
binomial = "Catenoleimus anachoretus"
binomial_authority = Panteleev, 1998

"Catenoleimus" is a prehistoric bird genus from the Late Cretaceous. It lived during the mid-late Turonian stage, around 90 million years agoVerify source|date=October 2007 . A single species "Catenoleimus anachoretus" has been described, and this is only known from one piece of coracoid (specimen PO 4606), found in the Bissekty Formation of the Kyzyl Kum in present-day Uzbekistan.

This bird appears to be a mid-sized enantiornithine, perhaps 20-25 cm long in lifeMortimer (2004)] . The morphology of the bone is rather plesiomorphic compared to contemporary Enantiornithes. On the other hand, lineages of quite basal Enantiornithines are known to have flourished even then and presumably occurred in today's Central Asia also.Thus, the phylogenetic placement of this bird requires more study, which may be pointless without more material of this or related species becoming available.

Footnotes

References

* (2004): The Theropod Database: [http://home.comcast.net/~eoraptor/Phylogeny%20of%20Taxa.html Phylogeny of taxa] . Retrieved 2008-AUG-14.

External links

* Dinosauricon: [http://dino.lm.com/images/display.php?id=1151 Specimen drawing] (bottom row, third from the right) by Michael Mortimer. Retrieved 2007-OCT-29.