Amitabha

Amitabha urbsinterdictensis is an ancient bird from the Middle Eocene (approximately 50 million years before the present) in North America. One specimen has been found to date. Bonnie Gulas-Wrobleski and Anton Wrobleski described and named it in 2002.^[1]

Specimens

The only known specimen of A. urbsinterdictensis is the type, AMNH 30331, which consists of a partial skeleton, including an incomplete humerus, scapula, sternum, and pelvis.^[2] It is from the Bridger Formation of Wyoming, which is of Middle Eocene age.^[1]

Relationships

In their 2002 paper, Gulas-Wrobleski and Wrobleski found A. urbsinterdictensis to be a crown-group galliform, and a member of the "phasianoids", the group that also includes such birds as peacocks, pheasants, and turkeys.^[1] Gerald Mayr criticized this analysis.^[2] A 2009 study by Daniel Ksepka found the species to belong neither to the crown nor the stem of the galliformes, but rather to have affinities to the rails.^[3]

Name

Explaining their choice of name, Gulas-Wrobleski and Wrobleski wrote, "urbsinterdictensis refers to the "Forbidden City" locality of Wyoming. Amitabha is for Amitabha Buddha, the bodhisattva of enlightenment and compassion, who commonly adopts the form of a peacock when incarnated in the material world".^[1]

References

Literature cited

• Gulas-Wroblewski, B. E.; Wroblewski, A. F.-J. (2002). "A crown-group galliform bird from the Middle Eocene Bridger Formation of Wyoming". Palaeontology 46: 1269–1280. doi:10.1046/j.0031-0239.2003.00340.x. 
• Mayr, G. (2009). Paleogene Fossil Birds. Berlin: Springer. ISBN 3-540-89627-9 
• Ksepka, D. T. (2009). "Broken gears in the avian molecular clock: new phylogenetic analyses support stem galliform status for Gallinuloides wyomingensis and rallid affinities for Amitabha urbsinterdictensis". Cladistics 25: 173. doi:10.1111/j.1096-0031.2009.00250.x.