Perplexicervix, Mayr, 2010

Mayr, Gerald, 2010, A New Avian Species with Tubercle-bearing Cervical Vertebrae from the Middle Eocene of Messel (Germany), Records of the Australian Museum 62 (1), pp. 21-28 : 22

Perplexicervix n.gen.

Type species. Perplexicervix microcephalon n.sp.

Diagnosis. Perplexicervix n.gen. is characterized by the following features: (1) skull small in comparison to postcranial skeleton; (2) beak short, triangular in dorsoventral view, with a straight culmen, sigmoid tomia, and a slightly hooked tip; (3) surface of cranium with marked pores and furrows; (4) well-developed processus basipterygoidei present; (5) processus extensorius of carpometacarpus prominent and with broadly rounded tip; (6) tarsometatarsus elongate with short trochleae metatarsorum II et IV; (7) hallux long. Characters (2), (3), and (5) are considered autapomorphies of the new taxon.

Etymology. From perplexus (Lat.): incomprehensible, and cervix (Lat.): neck, in reference to the curious tubercles on the cervical vertebrae.