Diogenornis

Diogenornis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Infraclass: Palaeognathae
Order: Casuariiformes
Genus: Diogenornis
Alvarenga 1983
Type species
Diogenornis fragilis
Alvarenga 1983

Diogenornis is an extinct genus of ratites, that lived from the Middle Paleocene to the Early Eocene (Riochican to Casamayoran in the SALMA classification). It was described in 1983 by Brazilian scientist Herculano Marcos Ferraz de Alvarenga based on fossils found in the Itaboraí Formation in southeastern Brazil. The type species is D. fragilis. It grew to about two thirds the size of the modern greater rhea, at about 90 centimetres (3.0 ft) of height.