Qianshanornis rapax is an extinct predatory bird from the Middle Paleocene of China. Q. rapax is the first (chronologically and otherwise) cariamiform bird to have been found in Asia. It is very similar to the Eocene Strigogyps, but it differs in being smaller, and in having a hypertrophied, hyperextensible second toe, forming a claw analogous to that of dromeosaur dinosaurs. This toe is thought to allowed the bird to better pin down captured prey. Although very little wing-material is known, the condylar processes suggest it was capable of flight, and probably was a flier superior to either Strigogyps or modern seriemas.[1]
| Qianshanornis Temporal range:
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| Artist's reconstruction | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Cariamiformes |
| Family: | †Qianshanornithidae |
| Genus: | †Qianshanornis Mayr et al. 2013 |
| Type species | |
| †Qianshanornis rapax Mayr et al. 2013
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References edit
- ^ Mayr, G.; Yang, J.; De Bast, E.; Li, C.-S.; Smith, T. (2013-06-25). "A Strigogyps-like bird from the middle Paleocene of China with an unusual grasping foot". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (4): 895–901. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.748059. S2CID 86051919.