Gargantuavis neck vertebra

[Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com>]

From: Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com

A new online paper:

ERIC BUFFETAUT and DELPHINE ANGST (2012)
New evidence of a giant bird from the Late Cretaceous of France.
Geological Magazine (advance online publication)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S001675681200043X
http://128.232.233.5/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8608934&fulltextType=RC&fileId=S001675681200043X



A large heterocoelous cervical vertebra from the Late Cretaceous of
Cruzy (Hérault, southern France) is described and referred to the
giant bird Gargantuavis philoinos Buffetaut & Le Loeuff, 1998,
confirming its avian nature. Gargantuavis appears to have been a
long-necked bird with possibly a relatively small skull. Derived
features such as heterocoely suggest that Gargantuavis was an advanced
ornithuromorph, close to ornithurines.