Gettyia

Gettyia is known from just one foot bone, a tarsometatarsus, found in the Two Medicine Formation.1

This bird had a special knob on its foot bone for a muscle that flexes the ankle, which helped it grab things.1

Scientists think Gettyia might have been a bird of prey or a climbing bird, because its foot was built for strong gripping.1

Gettyia was originally named Avisaurus gloriae in 1995, but was given its own genus in 2018.1

The species name gloriae honors Gloria Siebrecht, a volunteer who found the fossil.1

Gettyia lived in a warm, swampy environment near the Western Interior Seaway, a huge inland sea.1