''Primobucco'' 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 of bird placed in its own family,
Primobucconidae.
The type species, ''Primobucco mcgrewi'', lived during the
Lower Eocene of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
. It was initially described by American paleo-ornithologist
Pierce Brodkorb in 1970, from a fossil right wing, and thought to be an early
puffbird.
However, the discovery of a further 12 fossils in 2010 indicate that it is instead an early type of
roller.
Related fossils from the European
Messel deposits have been assigned to the two species ''P. perneri'' and ''P. frugilegus''. Two specimens of ''P. frugilegus'' have been found with seeds in the area of their digestive tract, which suggests that these birds were more omnivorous than the exclusively predaceous modern rollers.
See also
*
Neanis
References
Eocene birds
Coraciiformes
Paleogene birds of North America
Prehistoric bird genera
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