#cuckoo roller

[mysillyium]

I love cuckoo rollers for being in their own exclusive order (leptosomidae) while simultaneously having a big ass head

(i challenged myself to draw every order of bird like 2 months ago and this is all i've got so far)

[stranger-nature]

Day 23, "Ancient" - Cuckoo Roller (Leptosomus discolor)

This unusual bird is the sole extant species of its entire order, making it the last surviving member of an ancient 50 million year lineage of birds, the Leptosomiformes.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Plesiocathartes europaeus, P. geiselensis, P. kelleri, P. gaillardi, P. wyomingensis

By Jack Wood on @thewoodparable

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Name: Plesiocathartes europaeus, P. geiselensis, P. kelleri, P. gaillardi, P. wyomingensis

Status: Extinct

First Described: 1908

Described By: Gaillard

Classification: Dinosauria, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Inopinaves, Telluraves, Afroaves, Coraciimorphae, Eucavitates, Leptosomatiformes

Plesiocathartes is an extinct type of bird that was originally thought to be a New World Vulture (hence the name, which includes cathartes), but then was actually found in later studies to be, possibly, related to the Cuckoo Roller - a bird that, much like the Hoatzin, is extremely unique, extremely rare, and phylogenetically mysterious. So, finding an extinct relative of the Cuckoo Roller is quite important to better understand where this particular rare dinosaur came from (the classification line above is based on recent DNA studies that are still somewhat controversial). It is known from the Quercy Fissure of France, the Geisel Valley of Germany, the Messel Pit of Germany, and the Green River Formation, and another species is known from the London Clay Formation as well, so while it is a primarily European sort of bird, it did spread to America as well. It lived from the Eocene to the Oligocene epochs of the Paleogene, from about 37 to 28 million years ago, in the Bartonian to Rupelian ages. So not only was it widespread, it was also long lived. Even back at that point, they looked extremely like the modern Cuckoo Roller, except for that its wishbone was smaller and more U-shaped, and it also had longer legs. Apart from that, it seems that the Cuckoo Rollers in general went extinct in the early Oligocene in the Northern Hemisphere. 

Sources: 

Mayr, G. 2009. Paleogene Fossil Birds. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. 

http://fossilworks.org/bridge.pl?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=39650

[alonglistofbirds]

[2867/11080] Cuckoo roller - Leptosomus discolor

Also known as: courol

Order: Leptosomiformes (cuckoo-roller) Family: Leptosomidae

Photo credit: John C. Mittermeier via Macaulay Library

[animalia]