Eurolimnornis

Eurolimnornis is the name given to a monotypic genus of pterosaurs from the Early Cretaceous. The only known species E. corneti probably was originally identified as a primitive but essentially modern bird (or even as an early neognathe ancestral to the grebes),^[1] although alternative theories later suggested that it was a non-avialan theropod or pterosaur.^[2] The identification as a pterosaur was supported by a re-evaluation of the fossil remains published in 2012.^[3]

Eurolimnornis Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, ~143 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Order:	†Pterosauria
Suborder:	†Pterodactyloidea
Family:	†Eurolimnornithidae Kessler & Jurcsák, 1986
Genus:	†Eurolimnornis Kessler & Jurcsák, 1986
Species:	†E. corneti
Binomial name
†Eurolimnornis corneti Kessler & Jurcsák, 1986

The holotype and only material known to date (MTCO-P 7896) is a distal fragment of the right humerus, which was at first ascribed to the same species as the specimen of Palaeocursornis corneti, a possible synonym also originally identified as a bird.^[4][3]

The remains were found in Berriasian deposits (around 143 mya) at Cornet near Oradea, Romania. Eurolimnornis occurred on what was then an archipelago of volcanic and coral islands towards the east of the Piemont-Liguria Ocean. Its habitat was hilly, karstic terrain with numerous freshwater and/or brackish rivers, lakes and swamps. As this archipelago lay around 35°N latitude in a warmer, wetter climate than exists today, it was roughly similar to today's Caribbean or Indonesia.^[2]

See also

• List of pterosaur genera
• Timeline of pterosaur research

References

1. Kessler, E. & Jurcsák, T. (1986): New contributions to the knowledge of the Lower Cretaceous bird remains from Cornet (Romania). Travaux du Musée d'Histoire Naturelle Grigore Antipa 28: 289–295.
2. Benton, M. J.; Cook, E.; Grigorescu, D.; Popa, E. & Tallódi, E. (1997): Dinosaurs and other tetrapods in an Early Cretaceous bauxite-filled fissure, northwestern Romania. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 130: 275-292. doi:10.1016/S0031-0182(96)00151-4 PDF fulltext Archived 2016-04-11 at the Wayback Machine
3. Federico L. Agnolin and David Varricchio (2012). "Systematic reinterpretation of Piksi barbarulna Varricchio, 2002 from the Two Medicine Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of Western USA (Montana) as a pterosaur rather than a bird". Geodiversitas. 34 (4): 883–894. doi:10.5252/g2012n4a10. Archived from the original on 2013-01-07.
4. Bock, Walter J. & Bühler, Paul (1996): Nomenclature of Cretaceous birds from Romania. Cretaceous Research 17: 509–514. PDF fulltext Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine