Kelenken
Kelenken
Kelenken is over 3 m height of largest known representative of the extinct terror birds ( Phorusrhacidae ). The only way Kelenken described guillermoi was named after " kelenken ", a fearsome spirit of Tehuelche tribe of Patagonia and the finder of fossils, Guillermo Aguirre - Zabala. The holotype, consisting of a skull excluding the mandible and a tarsometatarsus ( the coalesced metatarsals of birds ) and a toe bone was found in the Argentine province of Río Negro in northwestern Patagonia. The findings come from the Middle Miocene.
Features
The skull is well preserved, only slightly dorsoventrally compressed. It is elongated and has a length of 71.6 cm. He is the longest bird skulls found so far at all. The bill makes more than half the length of the skull from ( 56%). Viewed from above the skull is triangular. He is much less stocky than the skull smaller Phorusrhaciden.
The tarsometatarsus has a length of 43.7 cm, in the center of a diameter of 4.8 cm. At the two ends of more than 9 cm
Swell
- Sara Bertelli, Luis Chiappe M., Claudia Tambussi: A new Phorusrhacis ( Aves: Cariamae ) from the Middle Miocene of Patagonia, Argentinia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology June 2007: Vol 27, Issue 2, pg ( s ) 409-419, doi: 10.1671/0272-4634 (2007) 27 [ 409: ANPACF ] 2.0.CO; 2
- Kelenken - The Palaeobiology Database