#cerestenia

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Cerestenia pulchrapenna

By José Carlos Cortés on @quetzalcuetzpalin-art​

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Name: Cerestenia pulchrapenna

Status: Extinct

First Described: 2000

Described By: Mayr

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, Aequolitornithes, Charadriiformes, Turnipacidae

Cerestenia is a relatively newly described genus of extinct bird from the Céreste Formation of France, living in the Rupelian age of the Oligocene of the Paleogene, about 33 to 28 million years ago. It is actually known from a decent skeleton, on a slab no less, that indicates it was part of an extinct group of Charadriiformes, the Turnipacidae, which were small near relatives of modern Buttonquails, but living in a more forested environment rather than open grasslands and scrublands, so it probably didn’t feed much like modern Buttonquail, but may have been more of a tree-dwelling (though not specifically adapted for it) dinosaur. 

Sources: 

Mayr, G. 2000. Charadriiform Birds form the Early Oligocene of Céreste (France) and the Middle Eocene of Messel (Hessen, Germany). Geobios 33 (5): 625 - 636. 

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