Pronunciation: kank
Meaning: for the Aonikenk
Author/s: Motta et al. (2026)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Santa Cruz Province, Argentina
Acta Ordinal: #1219
Kank australis
(for the Aonikenk, from south)Etymology
Kank pays homage to a myth of the Aonikenk, the southernmost group of the Indigenous Tehuelche people of Patagonia, in which an old giant rhea—a large, flightless South American bird—left the imprint of its toes in the sky with its powerful running steps, forming the constellation known as Choiols.
In Latin, that constellation is called Crux—the Southern Cross—which points toward the southernmost region of the planet; hence the species epithet australis, literally "from south", referring to the discovery of Kank in southern Patagonia.
Discovery
The first remains of Kank were discovered at the "Monotreme site" in the Chorrillo Formation at La Anita farm, near the city of El Calafate, Santa Cruz Province, southern Patagonia, Argentina, in 2018.
The holotype (MPM-PV-23106-A) is a neck vertebra.
Referred fossils include five shed teeth (MPM-PV-25387 to MPM-PV-25391) and three isolated toe bones (MPM-PV-25392, MPM-PV-25393, MPM-PV-22876), all recovered from the same spot as the holotype. Additional material from the Puma Cave site consists of a partial back vertebra (MPM-PV-21546-A)—originally described as MPM 21546 and identified as a juvenile megaraptoran by Novas et al. (2019) before being reinterpreted as an unenlagiid by Aranciaga Rolando et al. (2022)—and a toe claw (MPM-PV-21548-A), originally listed as MPM 21548 by Novas et al. (2019). Two further isolated teeth, CPAP 5935 from locality SC1 and CPAP 5932A from locality SC2, come from the Las Chinas Valley of southern Chile.
Preparators
M. Isasi, G. Muñoz, A. Moreno, S. Miner, and members of the LACEV team.
Habitat
Kank lived in a landscape of meandering rivers and streams with seasonal ponds, inhabited by aquatic plants such as water lilies and animals including fish, insects, and various molluscs. The climate was temperate and humid, with seasonal rainfall.
