Antarcticavis capelambensis

"Antarctic bird"

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Antarcticavis 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (100–66 Mya)
Place
Antarctica
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.

Antarcticavis (meaning “Antarctic bird”) is an extinct genus of birds of uncertain phylogenetic placement. It is known from a partial skeleton which was discovered in the Snow Hill Island Formation in Antarctica. The type and only species, Antarcticavis capelambensis, was announced in 2019, though the final version of the article naming it was published in 2020.

The holotype, SDSM 78147, consists of two thoracic vertebrae, the sternum keel, the right coracoid and shoulder blade, the sternal part of the left coracoid, the right upper arm, parts of the left upper arm, the proximal right ulna, the proximal left ulna and radius (articulated), the proximal right carpometacarpus, the proximal left carpometacarpus, the distal left carpometacarpus, the synsacrum, the right and left thighs, the proximal right tibiotarsus, the right and left distal tibiotarsus, and the proximal right tarsometatarsus.

What we know

  • Named by Cordes-Person et al., 2020.
  • Fossils found in Antarctica.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Antarcticavis — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.