Psilopterus

Psilopterus is an extinct genus of phorusrhacid from the Middle Oligocene to possibly the Late Pleistocene of Argentina and Uruguay. Compared to other phorusrhacids, members of the genus are both relatively gracile and diminutive, and include the smallest known species of terror bird: with the head raised P. bachmanni was 70–80 centimeters (2.3–2.6 ft) in height and weighed about 5 kilograms (11 lb), while the largest members of the genus were only about 8 kilograms (18 lb). The birds resemble the modern cariama, except with a heavier build and considerably smaller wings. Fossil finds in Uruguay indicate the genus may have survived until 96,040 ± 6,300 years ago, millions of years after the larger phorusrhacids became extinct.

Psilopterus

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PsilopterinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Phorusrhacidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Phorusrhacidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Phorusrhacidae

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 16.3 Mya to 400 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Oligocene — about 0 of 28 occurrencesMiocene — about 27 of 28 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 28 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 28 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 5 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 16 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 4 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence16.3 Mya400 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

28 occurrences of Psilopterus on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

28 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

5 formations

Santa Cruz — 50.00°S, 70.00°WSanta Cruz — 47.50°S, 71.88°WSanta Cruz — 51.58°S, 69.23°WSanta Cruz — 51.05°S, 69.13°WSanta Cruz — 51.20°S, 69.10°WSanta Cruz — 50.21°S, 69.72°WSanta Cruz — 50.28°S, 70.28°WSanta Cruz — 51.57°S, 69.47°WSanta Cruz — 50.32°S, 68.90°WSanta Cruz — 50.35°S, 68.97°WSanta Cruz — 50.43°S, 69.08°WArroyo Chasicó — 38.62°S, 62.98°WMonte Leon — 50.23°S, 68.92°WDolores — 33.07°S, 57.56°WCerro Boleadoras — 47.00°S, 71.62°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Psilopterus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Psilopterus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Psilopterus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

218 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Psilopterus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

12 references

Each of the 28 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Psilopterus

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Psilopterus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPsilopterinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Moreno and Mercerat 1891