Asian ostrich

The Asian or Asiatic ostrich (Struthio asiaticus), is an extinct species of ostrich that ranged from Morocco, the Middle East to China and Mongolia. Fossils date from the upper Pliocene to the early Holocene (3.6 MYA[2] - 8,000 cal yr BP[3]). Beads made from shells taken from archaeological sites in India dating to more than 25000 years were found to have traces of DNA and analysis of sequences examined from them show that the species is definitely in the genus Struthio.[4]

Asian ostrich egg shells

Asian ostrich
Temporal range: 3.6–0.008 Ma
↓
Early Pliocene to Early Holocene
Asian ostrich skeleton
Extinct  (before 13,000-7,000 BC)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Struthioniformes
Family: Struthionidae
Genus: Struthio
Species:
†S. asiaticus
Binomial name
†Struthio asiaticus
Synonyms
  • Struthio indicus Bidwell, 1910
  • Struthio palaeindicus Falconer 1868 nomen nudum
  • Megaloscelornis sivalensis Lydekker 1879

Asian ostriches were widespread around Asia. They also used to live in northern Indian Subcontinent and southern Siberia. In China, it is known that Asiatic ostriches became extinct at the end or shortly after the end of the last Ice Age.

See also

Late Quaternary prehistoric birds

Footnotes
  1. Sharpe, R. Bowdler (1899)
  2. Paleobiology Database (2012)
  3. "Ostrich Eggshell from the Far Eastern Steppe: Stable Isotopic Exploration of Range, Commodification, and Extirpation - ProQuest". www.proquest.com. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  4. Jain, Sonal; Rai, Niraj; Kumar, Giriraj; Pruthi, Parul Aggarwal; Thangaraj, Kumarasamy; Bajpai, Sunil; Pruthi, Vikas (2017). "Ancient DNA Reveals Late Pleistocene Existence of Ostriches in Indian Sub-Continent". PLOS ONE. 12 (3): e0164823. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0164823. PMC 5342186. PMID 28273082.

References
  • Sharpe, R. Bowdler (1899). A Handlist of the Genera and Species of Birds. Vol. I. Red Lion Court Fleet Street, London UK: Taylor and Francis. p. 2. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  • Paleobiology Database (2012). "Struthio asiaticus". Paleobiology Database. Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 14 Jun 2012.
  • Routledge, Jennifer (2020). "Ostrich Eggshell from the Far Eastern Steppe: Stable Isotopic Exploration of Range, Commodification, and Extirpation". ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2020


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