[D] Kuszholia mengi [~/~]
Describer
Nessov, 1995
Time
Cretaceous Late Turonian Coniacian
Classification
Saurischia Theropoda Tetanurae Coelurosauria Maniraptora Avialae Ornithothoraces
Fossilsite
Bissekt Formation, Uzbekistan
Info
\\\"Milky Way bird\\\" after the Kazakh term for the Milky Way, kus zholi
Holotype
PO 4602, caudal portion of the synsacrum. Outcrop CBI-52, Dzharakhuduk locality, Navoi District, Bukhara Province Uzbekistan, Upper Member of the Bissekty Svita (Coniacian).
Refered material
Cranial portion of the synsacrum, PO 4623, from the same outcrop, and possibly some vertebrae from outcrops CBI-14 and CBI-57.
The holotype specimen (PO 4602) of K. mengi was first figured under the number PO 3486, and indentified, in the figure caption as the synsacrum of a large ichtyornithid from outcrop CBI-52. K. mengi was a chicken-sized bird which had a stout synsacrum with an enlarged third pair of transverse processes. Orginally placed in the Kuszholiidae incertae sedis, Kuszholia was later assigned to the Patagopterygiformes (Nessov & Panteleev, 1993), so far known only from the Coniacian-Santonian of Argentina.
This hypothesis has yet to be verified, but is should be noted that the synsacra of Kuszholia and Patagopteryx are similar in that the both have an enlarged third pair of transverse processes and a convex ventral synsacrum. By contrast, Patagopteryx lacks the pleurocoels, a concave caudal articular surface, and a ventrally convex synsacrum, that are present in Kuszholia. (Kurochkin, 2000)
Nessov, 1995
Time
Cretaceous Late Turonian Coniacian
Classification
Saurischia Theropoda Tetanurae Coelurosauria Maniraptora Avialae Ornithothoraces
Fossilsite
Bissekt Formation, Uzbekistan
Info
\\\"Milky Way bird\\\" after the Kazakh term for the Milky Way, kus zholi
Holotype
PO 4602, caudal portion of the synsacrum. Outcrop CBI-52, Dzharakhuduk locality, Navoi District, Bukhara Province Uzbekistan, Upper Member of the Bissekty Svita (Coniacian).
Refered material
Cranial portion of the synsacrum, PO 4623, from the same outcrop, and possibly some vertebrae from outcrops CBI-14 and CBI-57.
The holotype specimen (PO 4602) of K. mengi was first figured under the number PO 3486, and indentified, in the figure caption as the synsacrum of a large ichtyornithid from outcrop CBI-52. K. mengi was a chicken-sized bird which had a stout synsacrum with an enlarged third pair of transverse processes. Orginally placed in the Kuszholiidae incertae sedis, Kuszholia was later assigned to the Patagopterygiformes (Nessov & Panteleev, 1993), so far known only from the Coniacian-Santonian of Argentina.
This hypothesis has yet to be verified, but is should be noted that the synsacra of Kuszholia and Patagopteryx are similar in that the both have an enlarged third pair of transverse processes and a convex ventral synsacrum. By contrast, Patagopteryx lacks the pleurocoels, a concave caudal articular surface, and a ventrally convex synsacrum, that are present in Kuszholia. (Kurochkin, 2000)