Avolatavis is an extinct genus of stem-parrot (pan-psittaciform) or a member of the stem group of Psittacopasseres (the clade including both parrots and passerines), known from the early Eocene Fossil Butte Member of the Green River Formation of Wyoming, United States, and from the London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, United Kingdom). It was first named by Daniel T. Ksepka and Julia A. Clarke in 2012 and the type species is Avolatavis tenens.[1] Gerald Mayr and Andrew C. Kitchener described the second species, A. europaeus, in 2023. Mayr and Kitchener assigned Avolatavis to the family Vastanavidae, which might be early diverging stem group presentatives of Pan-Psittaciformes or stem group representatives of Psittacopasseres.[2]
| Avolatavis Temporal range: Eocene
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Clade: | Psittacopasseres |
| Genus: | †Avolatavis Ksepka & Clarke, 2012 |
| Type species | |
| †Avolatavis tenens Ksepka & Clarke, 2012
| |
| Other species | |
| |
References
edit- ^ Daniel T. Ksepka and Julia A. Clarke (2012). "A new stem parrot from the Green River Formation and the complex evolution of the grasping foot in Pan-Psittaciformes". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (2): 395–406. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.641704. S2CID 85308803.
- ^ Gerald Mayr; Andrew C. Kitchener (2023). "The Vastanavidae and Messelasturidae (Aves) from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK)". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 307 (2): 113–139. doi:10.1127/njgpa/2023/1119. S2CID 257598310.
 | This prehistoric bird article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |