A gigantic jawbone found in Kazakhstan is believed to have belonged to a prehistoric bird which stood between two and three metres tall, making it one of the largest birds ever to stalk the Earth.
The jawbone of the new species, Samrukia nessovi, suggests the birdâs skull would have been around 30cm long and if it flew it would have had a wingspan of four metres.
Researchers believe the bird lived around 85million years ago and is one of the largest birds known from the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
The fossil, found in a Brussels museum, is also only the second giant, land-living bird species to be discovered in Cretaceous-aged rocks and the first to be found in Asia.
A previously recognised species, Gargantuavis philoinos, found in France, was named in 1998 but experts have argued over its identification.
Dr Darren Naish, of the University of Portsmouth, writing in Biology Letters said: âSince the 1850s we’ve known that numerous bird species lived during the age of the dinosaurs (known as the Mesozoic Era), but virtually all were crow-sized or smaller.
âWe can now be really confident that Mesozoic terrestrial birds weren’t all thrush-sized or crow-sized animals – giant size definitely evolved in these animals and giant forms were living in at least two distinct regions.â
Dr Dave Martill, from the university’s School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, added: âThis significant discovery demonstrates how young scientists can make an impact on our knowledge and emphasises how much field work remains to be done and how many exciting discoveries are left to unearth.â
According to the Guardian, the new species got its name from Samruk, the mythological Kazakh phoenix, and the Russian palaeontologist Lev Nessov.