Rustaviornis

Rustaviornis Temporal range: Early Miocene ~
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Phasianidae
Genus:	†Rustaviornis Burchak-Abramovich & Meladze, 1972
Type species
Rustaviornis georgicus Burchak-Abramovich & Meladze, 1972

Rustaviornis is an extinct monotypic genus of pheasant-like bird. Its remains were discovered in Miocene-aged sediments near Rustavi, in Eastern Georgia.

History and etymology

The genus Rustaviornis was erected in 1972 by Burchak-Abramovich and Meladze, based on a single distal fragment of a tibiotarsal bone, found in the right bank of the Kura, near the town of Rustavi, in modern Georgia, that was at the time a Union Republic of the USSR.

The genus name, Rustaviornis, is formed by the prefix Rustavi-, referring to the town of Rustavi near which it was found, and the suffix -ornis, meaning "bird".

Description

Rustaviornis is only known after a single and fragmentary holotype tibiotarsus, sharing similarities with those of modern-day pheasants and black grouse, although it was much larger, reaching the size of that of the modern junglefowl.

Paleoecology

During the Early Miocene, the Iagluja locality, as well as several other sites in the area, was populated by a typical European Hipparion fauna, such as a Mediterranean tortoise, an undeterminate rodent, a badger, the skunk Promephitis, the hyenas Ictitherium and Adcrocuta, a saber-toothed cat, the early elephant Choerolophodon pentelicus, the namesake horse Hipparion cf. eldaricum, a chalicothere, the rhinoceros Dicerorhinus and Aceratherium, the hog Microstonyx, the deer Procapreolus, the giraffid Palaeotragus, and the bovids Oioceros, Paraoioceros and Tragocerus.