Struthio anderssoni

Not to be confused with Struthio asiaticus.

East Asian ostrich Temporal range: Pleistocene–Holocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Egg and limb of S. anderssoni, Paleozoological Museum of China
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Infraclass:	Palaeognathae
Order:	Struthioniformes
Family:	Struthionidae
Genus:	Struthio
Species:	S. anderssoni
Binomial name
Struthio anderssoni Percy Lowe, 1931[1]

Struthio anderssoni, also known as the East Asian ostrich, is an extinct species of ostrich that lived in the Pleistocene and Holocene in China and Mongolia. The youngest dates obtained by mass spectrometry analysis of eggshell fragments reveal that the species survived until at least 8.9 ka BP.^[2]

Description

Struthio anderssoni was a large ostrich with an estimated mass of 270kg, laying eggs of up to 2400 cm3 in volume.^[3] In 2023, based on a re-examination of cast of a femur, it was suggested that this species be moved the genus Pachystruthio.^[4]

References

1. Lowe, Percy Roycroft (1931). "Struthious remains from northern China and Mongolia; with descriptions of Struthio wimani, S. anderssoni and S. mongolicus Spp. Nov". Palaeontologia Sinica, Series C. 6: 1–47.
2. Janz, Lisa; Elston, Robert G.; Burr, George S. (18 May 2009). "Dating North Asian surface assemblages with ostrich eggshell: implications for palaeoecology and extirpation". Journal of Archaeological Science. 36 (9): 1982–1989. Bibcode:2009JArSc..36.1982J. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2009.05.012.
3. Buffetaut1, Eric; Angst, Delphine (2017). "How Large was the Giant Ostrich of China?". EVOLUÇÃO - Revista de Geistória e Pré-História. 2 (1): 6–8. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
4. Buffetaut, Eric (13 February 2023). "The Missing Late Pleistocene Ostrich Femur from Zhoukoudian (China): New Information Provided by a Rediscovered Old Cast". Diversity. 15 (2): 265. doi:10.3390/d15020265.