Zhylgaia

Zhylgaia
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Subclass: Neornithes
Infraclass: Neognathae
Genus: Zhylgaia
Nesov, 1988
Binomial name
Zhylgaia aestiflua
Nesov, 1988

Zhylgaia is a genus of birds known only from fossils. Its remains have been recovered from a Late Cretaceous or Paleogene deposit in Central Asia.

The relationships of this form are unknown; it was initially placed in the Presbyornithidae, which at that time were believed to be some sort of "transitional shorebird". Recognizing that the presbyornithids were actually a prehistoric lineage of fairly advanced waterfowl, Zhylgaia was assigned to the form taxon "Graculavidae", an assemblage of Late Cretaceous and Paleocene shorebirds which are not a natural clade but merely an assemblage of outwardly similar birds. All that can be said about this taxon is that it was a modern bird, in all probability a neognathe.

References

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