Empeirodytes
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| Empeirodytes Temporal range: Oligocene ~ | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Suliformes |
| Family: | †Plotopteridae |
| Genus: | †Empeirodytes Ohashi & Hasegawa, 2020 |
| Type species | |
| Empeirodytes okazakii Ohashi & Hasegawa, 2020 | |
Empeirodytes is an extinct genus of Plotopteridae, a family of large flightless bird known from the Late Eocene to the Early Miocene of the West Coast of the United States, British Columbia and Japan. Remains associated with Empeirodytes have been found in Oligocene rocks of the Ashiya Group, on the islands of Ainoshima and Kaijima, near Kitakyushu, Japan.[1]
Etymology
In 2020, Ohashi Tomoyuki and Hasegawa Yoshikazu first described the remains of Empeirodytes okazakii, assigning as holotype KMNH VP 600011, a partial left coracoid found in Oligocene-aged rocks of the Ashiya Group on the island of Ainoshima, Japan. They referred as paratype a right coracoid from the same horizon, discovered on the nearby Kaijima.[1]
The genus name, Empeirodytes, is formed from the Greek prefix "Empeiros", meaning "proficient", and the suffix "-dytes", meaning "diver", referencing the adaptation towards wing-propelled diving exhibited by plotopterids.[1]
The species name, "okazakii", honours Okazaki Yoshihiro, another vertebrate researcher who worked on fossils from the Ashiya Group.[1]
