#primozygodactylus major

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Primozygodactylus danielsi, P. ballmanni, P. major, P. eunjooae, P. quintus, P. longibrachium

By José Carlos Cortés on @quetzalcuetzpalin-art​

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Name: Primozygodactylus danielsi, P. ballmanni, P. major, P. eunjooae, P. quintus, P. longibrachium

Status: Extinct

First Described: 1998

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, Australaves, Psittacopasserae, Passeriformes, Zygodactylidae

Primozygodactylus is a well known Zygodactylid, so well known that it actually has six species ascribed to it, all of them coming from the Messel Pit of Germany, thus living about 48 million years ago, in the Ypresian age of the Eocene of the Paleogene. The five species of Primozygodactylus are primarily distinguished from one another due to differences in body proportion. P. major is the smallest of all of them; P. ballmanni has a short beak and shorter wings, P. danielsi has long toes, P. eunjooae has a large size and long wings, and P. quintus had a long beak with long nostrils, and an average size, and P. longibrachium had very long wings and short legs. Feathers have been preserved in the species, showing barbules and long tail feathers. Its long and slender beak across the genus means that it was probably mainly an insect eater, gathering arthropods from trees in its forested environment, using the unique Zygodactylid parrot foot - passerine leg combo to perch well in the branches. It also supplemented its diet with berries. They also probably did foraging in the undergrowth and scrub of the forest, using their long legs to aid in moving quickly across the ground. Interestingly enough, it seems that Zygodactylus, which primarily came later (and earlier referred species probably aren’t a part of the genus) might actually have descended from the species complex of Primozygodactylus - meaning the genus for Primozygodactylus is paraphyletic with respect to Zygodactylus, though since genera quite often aren’t monophyletic, that probably won’t lead to any changes in naming. 

Source:

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

Mayr, G. 2016. New species of Primozygodactylus from Messel and the ecomorphology and evolutionary significance of early Eocene zygodactylid birds (Aves, Zygodactylidae). Historical Biology.