''Ludiortyx'' is a bird

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

from the Late

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

. Its remains have been found in the Montmartre Formation at the

Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...

(

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

). A single species is accepted, ''Ludiortyx hoffmanni''. This bird is of uncertain relationships; it has been variously considered to be an ancestral

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fil ...

or to belong to the

Quercymegapodiidae Quercymegapodiidae is an extinct group of stem Galliformes birds with fossils found in France and Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and ...

, a prehistoric group of

Galliformes Galliformes is an order (biology), order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkey (bird), turkeys, chickens, Old World quail, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems ...

(landfowl). The material assigned to it were initially considered to be of 2 species, one that was at first believed to be a ''

Tringa ''Tringa'' is a genus of waders, containing the shanks and tattlers. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1599. They are mainly freshwater birds, often w ...

wader 245px, A flock of Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, ...

, the other assigned to the galliform genus ''

Palaeortyx ''Palaeortyx'' is an extinct genus of granivorous galliform bird that lived 28.4 to 2.588 million years ago.Mayr, G. ''et al.'' (2006"A nearly complete skeleton of the fossil galliform bird ''Palaeortyx'' from the late Oligocene of Germany" ''Act ...

''.Mlíkovský (2002) Even the latter assignment was probably much in error as though its relationships are not known, ''Palaeortyx'' was probably not a quercymegapodiid.

Synonyms

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. PDF fulltext
!-- This should be treated with extreme caution as regards merging of species. Splits are usually good though. See also critical review in Auk121:623-627 here http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3793/is_200404/ai_n9396879 --> Bird genera Eocene birds Gruiformes Quercymegapodiidae Fossils of France Fossil taxa described in 1964 {{paleo-neornithine-stub