Page:Rothschild Extinct Birds.djvu/235



HE skull is narrow and vaulted, with a long, sharp and slightly deflected beak. Breadth at the squamosals 1½ times the height at basi-temporal, which has a constricted praemaxillary ridge, and the quadrate with a very small pneumatic foramen. The mandible is V with a slight inflection of the angle, and a distinct postarticular process. The symphysis is very narrow and pointed, with a long and narrow inferior ridge, not expanding markedly at either extremity. The sternum is longer, flatter and narrower than in Dinornis, having no distinct xiphisternal notch, three costal articulations, long and narrow costal processes, slender lateral processes which are often elongated, and usually no coracoidal facets. The pelvis is wider and lower than in Dinornis, with the lower border of the postacetabular portion of the ilium descending as a sharp ridge much below the level of the sacral ribs, and without any distinct pectineal process. A hallux is present. The tibio-tarsus and tarso-metatarsus are relatively shorter and stouter than in Dinornis, the latter being shorter than the femur, which is usually stouter and relatively shorter than in Megalapteryx. The length of the tarso-metatarsus is less than half that of the tibio-tarsus. The femur, besides being usually relatively shorter is readily distinguished from that of Dinornis by its more expanded extremities, the rather longer neck, and the much larger and ill-defined popliteal depression.

The vertebrae are of the general type of those of Pachyornis, but the anterior pneumatic foramen commences in the third dorsal. The phalangeals are intermediate between those of Dinornis and Pachyornis. Haast considered that the coracoid was aborted and often absent in this genus, in Emeus, and Pachyornis. As additional characters of the skull it may be mentioned that there is a prominent supra-occipital protuberance, and a depression on the squamosal above the quadrate; the par-occipital processes are pointed, and the basi-occipital processes only slightly prominent; so that the posterior profile of the basi-occipital is nearly straight. The quadrate has a very short anterior process.

All the species of the genus are small, in fact parvus is the smallest but one of the family.

Type of the genus: Anomalopteryx didiformis (Owen).

Number of species: 4.