Paraphysornis


Paraphysornis is an extinct genus of giant flightless terror birds that inhabited Brazil during Late Oligocene or Early Miocene epochs.

Description

Paraphysornis was tall and weighed approximately. It was calculated at having been around high at the back. Like Brontornis, Paraphysornis is more massively built than other phorusrhacids and has a shorter and stouter tarsometatarsus, which indicates less cursorial and possibly carrion-feeding habits.

Discovery

The nearly complete skeleton of one specimen recovered from the Tremembé Formation of the Taubaté Basin. The specimen only lacks most of the upper maxilla, braincase, pelvis and sternum. In the Museum of Natural History of Taubaté is exposed the almost complete skeleton of Paraphysornis found in 1982 by Herculano Alvarenga.