Protoavis

Protoavis is a problematic extinct genus known only from fragmentary remains recovered from Late Triassic Norian-age deposits near Post, Texas. Its true classification has been the subject of considerable controversy, with researchers offering many different interpretations of what the fossil material actually represents. When it was first described, the remains were presented as belonging to a primitive bird, an identification that, if valid, would push the origin of birds back by some 60 to 75 million years; the claim has not been widely accepted.