''Dynamopterus velox'' is a prehistoric

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

, known from a single large right humerus recovered in France. The humerus shares anatomical features with living

cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are somet ...

s (though it is much larger). It has also been classified in the suborder Cariamae in the Gruiformes. Some fossils once thought to be ''Dynamopterus tuberculatus'' may actually belong to Perplexicervicidae, a newly identified group of birds with bumpy neck bones that might have helped protect them from predators.

References

Oligocene birds Cenozoic birds of Europe Paleogene France Fossils of France Quercy Phosphorites Formation {{Cuculiformes-stub