Ludiortyx

Ludiortyx is a bird genus from the Late Eocene. Its remains have been found in the Montmartre Formation at the Montmartre (Paris, France). A single species is accepted, Ludiortyx hoffmanni.

Ludiortyx Temporal range: Late Eocene
Skeleton
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Gruiformes (?)
Genus:	Ludiortyx Brodkorb, 1964
Species:	L. hoffmanni
Binomial name
Ludiortyx hoffmanni (Gervais, 1852)
Synonyms
Genus: Eortyx Brodkorb, 1967 Species: Ludiortyx blanchardi (Milne-Edwards, 1869) and see text

This bird is of uncertain relationships; it has been variously considered to be an ancestral rail or to belong to the Quercymegapodiidae, a prehistoric group of Galliformes (landfowl). The material assigned to it were initially considered to be of 2 species, one that was at first believed to be a Tringa wader, the other assigned to the galliform genus Palaeortyx.^[1] Even the latter assignment was probably much in error as though its relationships are not known, Palaeortyx was probably not a quercymegapodiid.

Synonyms

Apart from the genus-level synonym Eortyx, L. hoffmanni has undergone quite a number of name changes due to the confusion about its placement: ^[1]

• Tringa hoffmanni Gervais, 1852
• Palaeortyx hoffmanni (Gervais, 1852)
• Palaeortyx blanchardi Milne-Edwards, 1869
• Ludiortyx blanchardi (Milne-Edwards, 1869)
• Eortyx hoffmanni (Gervais, 1852)