''Masillaraptor'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

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 ...

of masillaraptorid, a group of primitive falconiforms, from the

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

Messel Pit The Messel Formation is a Formation (geology), geologic formation in Hesse, central Germany, dating back to the Eocene Epoch (geology), epoch (about 47 Ma). Its geographic range is restricted to the Messel pit. There it unconformably overlie ...

, Germany. It is a long-legged relative of the living

falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

Known species

Only one species of ''Masillaraptor'' is known: ''M. parvunguis''

Etymology

''Masillaraptor'' comes from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''Masilla'', which is the old name for the town of Messel, and ''raptor'' is a New Latin suffix used to indicate a predator (from ''rapere, to catch'') and in English it means ''bird of prey''. Specific epithet ''parvunguis'' is also Latin, coming from the word ''parvus'' which means small and feeble, while ''unguis'' means claw. The name refers to the fact that the specimen's claws are small in comparison to those of other raptors.

Characteristics

The

''Masillaraptor'' is different from all other known avian

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

. It possesses a combination of characters that distinguishes it from all others. #The beak is almost as long as the cranium itself, with equal height over much of its length and a straight dorsal ridge. The beak curves just before its tip, restricting the nasal openings to the rear half of the beak. #The

tibiotarsus The tibiotarsus is the large bone between the femur and the tarsometatarsus in the leg of a bird. It is the fusion of the proximal part of the tarsus with the tibia. A similar structure also occurred in the Mesozoic Heterodontosauridae. These ...

is the longest bone in the leg. #On the second toe the first phalanx is shortened, whereas on the fourth toe the second and third phalanges are shortened. #The claws of ''Masillaraptor'' are small and weak compared to other

falconiform The falcons and caracaras are around 65 species of diurnal birds of prey that make up the family Falconidae (representing all extant species in the order Falconiformes). The family likely originated in South America during the Paleocene and is d ...

birds with abbreviated pedal phalanges. Characters (1) and (3) are derived within neornithine birds and also found in modern Accipitres, from which ''Masillaraptor'' is, however, distinguished in character (4).(Mayr, 2006.)

Fossil specimens

There are two specimens of ''Masillaraptor''. Only one specimen was referenced for classification because the other is housed in an unknown private collection. Both specimens are a slab of rock containing a nearly complete, articulate but poorly preserved skeleton. The specimens are both believed to be adult members of the species. Both specimens were discovered in the Messel pit, an old shale mine known for the extremely well preserved fossils that have been discovered there.

Classification

''Masillaraptor'' represents one of two members of Masillaraptoridae within the Falconiformes. The

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

below displays the results of the

phylogenetic analysis In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical data ...

by Mayr & Kitchener (2022):

References

External links

dinoweb.narod.ruFalconiformesExplore Birds of Prey
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2473105 Eocene birds Falconiformes Prehistoric birds of Europe Fossil taxa described in 2006