Messelastur

Messelastur Temporal range: Middle Eocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skull of Messelastur gratulator
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Clade:	Eufalconimorphae
Family:	†Messelasturidae
Genus:	†Messelastur Peters, 1994
Type species
†Messelastur gratulator (Peters, 1994)

Messelastur is a genus of messelasturid bird. It is known from the Messel pit of Germany, which dates to the Eocene.^[1][2]

References

1. Peters, D.S. (1994) Messelastur gratulator n. gen. n. spec., ein Greifvogel as der Grube Messel (Aves: Accipitridae). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, 170:3-9
2. G. Mayr. 2011. Well-preserved new skeleton of the Middle Eocene Messelastur substantiates sister group relationship between Messelasturidae and Halcyornithidae (Aves, ?Pan-Psittaciformes). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 9(1):159-171