Tertiary ground birds from Patagonia (Argentina) in the Tournouer collection of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris

Avian fossils collected by Andre Tournouer in Patagonia during the early years of the 20th century are described. A small phorusrhacid (Psilopterus cf. affinis) is reported from the Deseadan (Late Oligocene). The Santacrucian (Early Miocene) remains belong to a rheid (Opisthodactylus patagonicus), phorusrhacids (Psilopterus sp., Phorusrhacos longissimus) and a brontornithid (Brontornis burmeisteri). Several characters of the lower jaw of Brontornis differ from those of phorusrhacids and support the inclusion of brontornithids in Anseriformes.